


Legends, Stories, and Strays: The Joken-Ji Incident

by EzraTheBlue



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Cop Drama, M/M, Mild Gore, implied 393
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-19 08:09:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 33,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8197336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzraTheBlue/pseuds/EzraTheBlue
Summary: A body has been found floating in a river that, according to legend, is home to kappas, and gossip has flown. Friendly neighborhood beat cop Officer Choushi Hakkai has been assigned to investigate, and quickly recruits the help of the drifter who lives behind the temple. Can they solve the mystery without getting wrapped up in the rumors, or is there more to this murder than meets the eye?





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [opalmatrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/gifts).



> Written for the 7th Night Smut Exchange 2016. My prompt ("Police with a bit of urban fantasy: regular beat cop(s) pulled into special unit investigation of something unnatural") was an absolute gift. I love urban fantasy, although this one landed much closer to "urban" than "fantasy" (something I angsted about for a good long while, to the point where I was considering scrapping this story 2/3 of the way through to write something that might fit better). I did a good amount of research for this one, and I made notes which I will include at the end of each chapter.
> 
> Due to the length of this story, I have broken it up into chapters.
> 
> Very special thanks to my beta, Whymzyzcal!

  **Legends, Stories, and Strays: The Joken-Ji Incident**

Three months after moving in, Officer Choushi Hakkai had gotten used to living in a small, quiet town devoid of the peculiarities of the city, and had become accustomed to his routine. If he was doing his job correctly, nobody even knew he was there. That was how he liked it, and very much how it was.

He had gotten to know most of the folks on his beat through the Tsuchibuchi neighborhood of Tono. Tono had its auspice in history, in its old buildings, the ancient stone carvings outside of city limits, the recreated village, and the old temples, but despite the reputation of legend and lore, the city was low key and calm; peaceful, even with the June tourist boom. The only tourists he saw were at the restaurants or passing by Joken-ji to visit the famed kappa river and pond, chasing the legends of _Tono Monogatari_ , but there weren't terribly many tourists between Golden Week and Obon, never a glut like he saw on his old beat at his last prefecture. Instead, he saw the Saeki children chasing each other up and down the block to and from Tsuchibuchi Elementary School, Mr. Tadashi walking his Shiba Inu near the river, the Komatsus arguing at the market, all the friendly people of the neighborhood. He was even on good terms with the NEET who sat on the back steps to Joken-ji every day.

“Good afternoon, Sasaki-san.” Hakkai tipped his cap as he passed the steps. There he was, as he was every day, squatting on the steps to the temple with his lanky legs in front of him, smoking a cigarette, long red hair falling from a sloppy ponytail and just brushing over two thin scars that stood out in pink against tanned cheeks. Officer Choushi dearly wanted to shame Sasaki Gojyo – a young fellow like him, seemingly devoid of infirmity and disability, unable or unwilling to find work? – but Sasaki-san was an incorrigible charmer, the sort who simply didn't scold. Choushi was used to him. “Another day in paradise?”

Sasaki-san, laughing, sank forward and swiped his hair back. “Choushi-san, you can call me Gojyo, like everyone else does. And yeah.” He blew a smoke ring for punctuation, then grinned with all of his teeth. “It's nice. Might rain later, but it's nice.” He paused, listening as cicadas cried in the distance, breaking the calm, still ease of the late spring air. Then, he leveled Hakkai with an easy smile and held out a dusty, earth-scraped hand: “Hey, spare a yen, buy a kappa a cucumber?”

“You know you're not supposed to panhandle.” Hakkai stopped in his path and crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow with the same sternness that stopped the pesky neighborhood pickpockets in their tracks. He wasn't a formidable picture most of the time – the very image of the buttoned-up police officer, with his thick glasses, his powder-blue shirt and navy trousers pressed, his white gloves starched and bleached, his hair parted to the side and trapped neatly under his cap so that it never looked out of place, and not especially strong-looking from the outside – but when his face hardened, he very obviously looked like he meant business. Sasaki didn't quite stop smiling, but he shrunk a little into the shade.

“I promise, I'll take it right to the temple.” He held his hand up. “I'm a man of my word. Believe me.” He still smirked, but he managed to look sincere. He always seemed to maintain eye contact, his dark eyes visible even when his hair fell in front of them. Perhaps he thought he could mesmerize Hakkai. Nonetheless, Hakkai raised an eyebrow but reached into his pocket.

“If Sergeant Genji catches me, you know I'll have to panhandle, too.” He poured a few coins into Sasaki's extended hand, but as he withdrew, Sasaki touched his wrist and caught his eye.

“It won't happen.” He winked. “Don't you know, it's good luck to be nice to kappas?” Sasaki hopped up to his feet. “Thanks, Officer!” He pressed his hands together as he ascended the stairs backwards, then spun and jogged the rest of the way up. Surely to fulfill his promise, Hakkai mused with a little smile. He patted the head of the kappa-dog statue at the bottom of the steps as he went back on his way.

Ever since moving from Tokyo to Iwate, he'd gotten used to the peace of a smaller city. He had his patrol, he walked his shift, he waved to all the residents, he directed lost tourists back towards their hotel or whatever museum they were looking for in his very best English, and he stopped what petty crime came up. Then, he could clock out, lock his service pistol in his desk, pick up fresh ingredients at the market, say hello to the little white cat who lived on the corner, and make dinner (always too much, of course, because he was so used to cooking for two that it was hard to cook for one). He'd read the newspaper or a novel and sleep, then do the same thing again tomorrow. It was a quiet life, in a quiet town, and it suited him fine.

He was fine with his boring, quiet life and a day-to-day with nothing out of the ordinary.

* * *

Choushi's phone rang before his alarm went off, and he woke from grayish dreams and groped past his futon to find the phone on the charger, only to see Genji's phone number on the screen. He answered while still feeling around for his glasses on the side table: “Good morning, Sergeant.” He jammed his glasses onto his ears and tried to scrape his hair into place. Choushi heard him yawning off the receiver before he could speak – the Sergeant wasn't a morning person in the slightest, so it was most unusual to receive a call before his shift. “Did you need me to bring in some coffee?”

“Hakkai.” There was something heavy in Genji's voice, like the pall of gray smoke that hung around the Sergeant's head at any given hour, and the strangeness of it all only rang louder in his head. Worse, he was using his given name. “There's a situation. I need you in the office. Post haste. I don't care if your shirt is wrinkled.”

“Ah.” Hakkai thanked his stars that he had pressed his shirt the night before and hurried to his feet. “I'll be there as soon as possible.”

Hakkai hurried his clothes on, weaving through his cramped one-room apartment and still tugging his tie into place as he got out the door. The sun was only just rising and the streets were empty, so he hoped nobody would see him still pulling his gloves into place as he walked to the station. The only other living soul he encountered was, who else, Sasaki-san, loitering on the steps again with a box of doughnuts on his knee and his first cigarette of the morning in his mouth.

“Morning, Officer.” Gojyo raised an eyebrow and grinned at him as he passed. “Look at you, stiff and straight as a sword even this early.” Hakkai didn't answer him, still fixing his tie and smoothing his pants, but Gojyo whistled, and when Hakkai whirled back, Gojyo was holding out a doughnut. He winked. “Never say the kappas don't return the favor, am I right?”

Hakkai was about to scold him, but his stomach reminded him he hadn't had breakfast. He accepted with a quiet, “Thank you for the meal,” and took a bite. Gojyo smirked under the fall of his hair and tugged his jacket up his shoulders then tossed his hair back as Hakkai studied him through the mouthful of dough and tucked his hair back behind his ears. He wore the same clothes as the day before. Hakkai had no idea where the man slept, and yet, here he was sharing his meal. He swallowed, dabbed his mouth dry with his kerchief, and turned the doughnut over in his hands. “Do you ever go home, Sasaki-san?”

“Wouldn't know where to go. This's good enough.”

“Not even to Fukusen-ji? I imagine the Goddess Kannon would have her arms open for you.”

Gojyo laughed sharply and kicked his legs out across the step, as casual as could be. “I'd be pretty skeeved out, sleeping with that giant lady watching me. I prefer my gals a little closer to my size, you know?”

Hakkai chuckled under his breath, but quickly finished the last of the doughnut and dusted the sugar from his gloves, then bowed. “This was a lovely meal.”

Gojyo seemed a bit surprised, but he clambered to a quick stand and bowed back. “Uh, anytime, Officer.” Hakkai smiled, and tucked his kerchief back into his pocket.

“I'll see you later. Do behave yourself, alright?” With that, Hakkai pivoted and started to walk again, but he still heard Gojyo's muttered response.

“Yeah, see ya.” He slowly sank back down onto the step. “Probably sooner than you think.”

The station was abuzz with activity, and Hakkai was certain he'd never seen so many people in the office at once. Usually, everybody was out making their rounds or answering calls, but today, everyone was on the phone or talking in excited circles. He hoped he wasn't the last to arrive, but before he could ask what all the excitement was, Sergeant Genji emerged from his office and marched out to him.

“When I say post haste, I mean pedal to the metal!” He set his hands on his hips, and despite the fact that Genji was considerably shorter than him, Hakkai still had to shrink when Genji Kouki drew himself up and puffed his chest out. He was that mean-looking sort of handsome man, and his Ike jacket made him look like a traditional cop. He had only become chief at this station a few weeks before Hakkai transferred in and didn't quite look Japanese, but nobody dared ask him questions or question a word out of him. Genji was like a hot blade, and not to be crossed.

Hakkai, of course, did what he could to temper him. “I haven't got a car, chief.” He put on a bright, beaming smile. “But I came as fast as I could.”

Genji huffed and caught Hakkai by the collar. “None of your funny business. Come on. With me. Now.” Hakkai didn't have to be dragged to the Chief's office, walking along despite Genji's best efforts to do so, and he got a sinking feeling that perhaps he had done something wrong.

Genji threw the door shut on the cramped office, overloaded with bookshelves and file cabinets packed to the brim with files that Genji's predecessor kept for some reason or another, and stalked past Hakkai to his file-covered desk. “We've got something unusual.” He took up a packet of Polaroids from his desk. “Have a look.” He pitched the photographs at Hakkai's chest, and Hakkai caught them without thinking and looked...

Into the glass-eyed face of a woman floating in a river.

“This is the first murder we've seen in our area in two decades, Hakkai. Even my most recent predecessor never saw anything like this.” Genji had propped himself against his desk, arms crossed tight. “We never see anything much more difficult than drunk and belligerent behavior on festival weekends and the occasional burglar. The only dead we see are the elderly and sick. This is something nobody here has dealt with before.”

“Oh, no.” Hakkai's throat wobbled as he flipped through the photographs. A young woman – a girl, really, so young – with her clothes in disarray, skirt torn, blouse smeared with mud, floating limp in a shady pond. “This is – just this morning?”

“I've got a few investigators casing the scene still. They've taken the body to the coroner, and we had to call in a doctor from the Iwate district office to help with the actual forensic work.” Genji took a cigarette from his top pocket and lit up. Hakkai would usually cough deliberately into his hand, and Genji would ignore him. Instead, Hakkai was engrossed in the photographs. Genji watched him cycle through them over and over, looking as lost as if he'd stumbled off a wooded path. For a long minute, there was nothing but the sound of the overhead fan to cut the silence. Hakkai kept picking out details – she wasn't wearing a school uniform, so it would be hard to tell where she came from, and her expression was frozen in horror – she had time to realize she was dying. Her fingers and hands were bruised. Hakkai also recognized the stream: the cucumbers tied to strings hanging in the stream were a dead giveaway. Haseki River, behind Joken-Ji.

“Perhaps it was a kappa.”

“Don't you start that stupid shit.” Genji's upper lip curled. “All the hicks out here are superstitious enough as it is.”

Hakkai sighed, but though he disliked Genji's tone, he couldn't disagree. “The stories say that kappas drag children under and that pearl divers fall prey as well. Considering it's happened at the supposed best kappa sighting spot, I imagine the rumor will hold sway.” Finally, Hakkai held the photographs back out to Genji. “However, I know very well we don't live in fairy stories. When did it happen?”

“Sometime last night.” Genji stubbed out his cigarettes and put the photographs on the desk. “The caretaker discovered her this morning. Like I said, I've got a team investigating, picking up evidence and the like, but there's nobody on my force with any real experience with a murder investigation. Nobody but you. I'm reassigning your beat for the investigation, and I want you to be my lead detective.”

Hakkai's heart jumped into his throat. “Absolutely not.”

“Hakkai.” Genji set his jaw and seized Hakkai by his cuff. “You are literally the only person here with any experience with high crimes. That you have been a beat cop here means that the citizens will trust you and talk to you.”

“I am not interested in being a detective, sir.” Hakkai tried to yank himself free, but Genji's fingers were fastened tight to his sleeve. He wouldn't be able to wrench him off without actually forcing his hand. “This is a terrible thing to have happened, and this poor dear girl deserves justice, but I am suited to nothing more than comforting the citizens--”

“Stop being stupid. I know you're not an idiot; you can't play dumb with me.” Genji advanced on Hakkai, and Hakkai jerked his arm loose and stepped back, but found his shoulders against the door. Genji scowled, brow furrowed deep, and for a moment, Hakkai forgot that Genji was only a year his senior. Genji finally heaved a deep sigh. “It's like you forgot I read your resume. You were valedictorian of your graduating class at Tokyo U. You were already advancing through the ranks in Asakusa. You were making a name for yourself. You could have been legendary. Don't make me order you. Take this. Make something of yourself.”

Hakkai pursed his lips, then lowered his eyes away from Genji's face. “Order me, Chief. I'll do it.”

Genji's lip curled. “Consider it an order.” He waved a hand. “Dismissed, Detective.”

Hakkai had nearly turned for the door, but he paused with his palm on the knob to frown back at Genji. “I'm not a detective.” Genji scoffed, but dug out another cigarette.

“You better be.”

Hakkai, without another word to the chief, left, still running the images from the photographs through his mind. He should have been wondering about motive, modus operandi, all the things one had to wonder about a murder, but he barely remembered to retrieve his pistol because all he could think about was, “That poor girl.”

* * *

Joken-ji was a temple like many – the ancient, ebony-black wooden gate and the stern-faced stone butsu posed eternally within flanking the entranceway; a purification fountain before one reached the buildings; the offertory box to collect for the kami. However, the devotion to the patron kami of Joken-ji, the kappa, was made plain in some of the unique decorations. The path was lined with statues of kappa dogs, ugly little creatures with a dog's body and a kappa's face. Hakkai had visited Joken-ji shortly after moving into Tono, for though he had no interest in the gods, there was never any harm in hoping for good luck. It rather amused him to see the old famed “kappa expert” telling awestruck children about the kappas who lived in the river, monsters that could protect you as easily as drag you under. Tourists and locals alike would visit to string a cucumber in the river like a fishing rod, look deep into the Kappabuchi pool, and leave their yen in the box. Now, the gates were strung up with caution tape, and what mysticism the place had was muted by the horror that had befallen it.

Just like Genji had said, the body had been removed when Hakkai arrived at Joken-ji, but the police team was still milling around talking and examining the scene. Hakkai couldn't help but notice that Genji had sent many of the younger officers, and he even understood why – the officers with twenty years of experience scolding truant students would be lost compared to young men with their academy classes on crime scenes and forensics fresh in mind. Hakkai approached one of the juniors who was taking photographs near some broken rods, crossed the shallow banks and stood on an outcropping of rocks behind him, and waited for him to be finish his shot.

“Good morning, Sonoda-kun.” Sonoda jumped, but turned around, beaming to see Hakkai.

“Oh, Choushi-senpai! I thought I said you can just call me Goku, y'know. It's okay, everyone does!” He fixed his cap down over his stubborn hair, hiding that some of his wiry mop was held back with a headband. “You're really good at sneaking, y'know?”

“Ahaha!” Hakkai folded his hands behind him and put on a catlike mask of a grin. “I can assure you it's not intentional. The last thing I'd want to do is surprise you here, today.”

Goku's face fell, his smile wiped flat in an instant. “Yeah, uh, no kidding. So, I'm guessing the boss sent you over? You're the lead on this, right?”

“Such are my orders.” Hakkai sighed and scratched his head. “But the crime scene's already been disturbed, so I … ”

“I've captured it as best as I can.” Goku tapped his camera. “Plus, the body was disturbed when we got to it. One of the monks turned her over. She was face down when he found her.” Goku scrunched his nose and rubbed his forehead. “Man, they tell you about this stuff in school, but you're just not ready for how gross a dead body smells after a few hours. Makes me glad I missed breakfast, even though I'm kinda starving now.”

Hakkai smothered a little laugh. Sonoda Goku was an earnest young man who'd joined the force a little more than a month ago, and despite his casual way of speaking and his seeming naivete, he was reliable and resourceful. “I trust you're attempting to recreate how she arrived?”

“Doing my best with what I got.” Goku scratched his head, then looked across the water. “A lot was probably washed away. I'll keep at this if you want to interview some witnesses. I talked to Kappa Oji-san already. He was really upset, but I recorded his statement and let him go to talk to the news.”

“Reasonable. Thank you. Keep up the hard work.” Hakkai patted Goku's shoulder and retreated for the bank. The temple attendants, four or five of them, were all corralled near the building by caution tape, watching and muttering amongst themselves.

He went to stand before the attendants and bowed, then said, “I'm Officer Choushi of the Iwate prefecture, Tono subdivision. I'd like to ask you all some questions, separately. Do you have a private room I can use?”

One by one, Hakkai took each of the attendants into the administrative office, left empty by the spectacle, and asked each man the same questions. “Were you here last night?”

He got similar answers from all of them: “I went home for dinner.”

“I headed home before sundown, like I always do.”

“There's a night security guard, but I left before he got here.”

Determined, Hakkai asked on: “Was there anybody strange hanging around during the day yesterday?”

The attendants each gave him nearly the same answer: “Nothing but tourists. People came, they made offerings, they put a cucumber in the river, they left.”

Hakkai scrunched his nose the first time he got the answer, but managed to suppress a sigh at the others before asking on: “Do you recognize the young woman who was discovered earlier today?”

None of them did.

Hakkai went through all of the textbook questions, the things he knew to ask, and the attendants were all consistent. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened the day before, nobody strange or suspicious showed up. When the night watchman arrived to be interviewed, he was similarly useless:

“My post is at the front of the temple. I'll usually walk a circle around the perimeter once an hour, to make sure there are no idiot kids playing pranks in the river. The most I had to do was shoo off the homeless NEET who loiters at the bottom of the back steps, roundabouts three.” He'd scratched his closely-shaven head, but maintained eye contact as Hakkai sat in the chair opposite the desk. “I didn't hear or see anything, and I didn't know about that poor girl until I got woken up an hour ago.”

Hakkai made a note of this. “You were not the one who discovered the body?”

“No, sir.” Hakkai was just scribbling a note to himself to find out who did find the girl, but the night watchman laughed suddenly. “Maybe it was a kappa that did it. They can drag someone to the bottom, eat their fill, and let what's left float when they're done.” He laughed again, his timbre as bitter, stiff, and hollow as wormwood, but his face fell and he raised a hand to the back of his head. “Like the old stories your mom would tell you as a kid to scare you.”

Hakkai was unsure of what to say and straightened his pile of notes without looking at the man for a moment. Finally, he murmured, “I don't believe in those stories. Is there a security camera anywhere on the premises?”

The night watchman merely laughed again. “Of course not. This is a holy space, and besides, we wouldn't want to risk scaring off the kappa with stuff like that.”

Hakkai released the night watchman after concluding that he was as useless as the rest. Goku was finishing the cleanup, but waved to Hakkai as he spotted him emerging from the office, then jogged over to join him. “You look real disappointed.”

“Do I?” Hakkai found himself frowning, and forced a smile. “I suppose I hit a bit of a dead end with eyewitnesses. How about you?”

“I've got a lot of information, but we're gonna need to sort through it all at the station.” Goku fidgeted with his camera, but grinned for Hakkai. “Meet me back there in a little while. I gotta make some phone calls and stuff, so check in with me once you're done here, okay?”

“Of course.” Hakkai bowed, and Goku turned on his heel to leave. Hakkai fondly watched him depart, mind wandering back through all of the useless details he had been given. His higher brain told him that perhaps someone was lying, but his instincts told him that they had no cause to lie. He could easily verify all of their alibis with their wives or the owners of the bars they had said they'd gone to, and they were all adult men with no criminal records. Never drunk in public, nary a jaywalking citation. The exact kinds of quiet, unassuming people who lived in this town. He had no suspects and no clues. The only thing he could think to do would be to start asking around town.

The closest would be, of course, the young man at the bottom of the stairs.

Hakkai started to descend from the temple through the back gate and saw Gojyo ascending, cigarette in one hand, other hand stuffed in his pocket. He stopped halfway when he saw Hakkai, and raised a hand in greeting. “Choushi-san. Uh, I guess you're here about the ... y'know.” He gestured with his cigarette hand, then turned his head away. “Uh, were you gonna talk to me?”

Hakkai raised an eyebrow. “I had intended to, yes.”

Gojyo looked relieved. “Yeah, okay.” He snuffed his cigarette and ascended the rest of the steps. “Do you wanna do this here?” He smirked and wiggled an eyebrow. “Or at the station?”

Hakkai crossed his arms, ice coating his expression. “I'd appreciate you taking this seriously. I intend to question you whether or not you do so.”

Gojyo held his hands up. “Right, right. Sorry.” He then offered his wrists. “So, are you going to take me in?”

To this, Hakkai merely put on a personable smile. “Unless you're confessing, I don't intend to arrest you. Shall I take you to the temple's office so you can get back to your day easier?”

Gojyo lowered his arms and tucked both hands in his pockets, then lowered his gaze to the ground beside him again. “I'd honestly prefer the station.”

Hakkai led Gojyo back to the station, letting him lag a few steps behind him like a puppy. Gojyo tried to make small-talk, but when they got to the station, he seemed to duck the gazes of the other officers. Hakkai let him into one of the private rooms, and he sat where directed and folded his hands on the desk. He barely waited for Hakkai to sit down before beginning: “So I went up into the woods to take a leak.”

“Sasaki-san.” Hakkai dug out his recorder and folded his hands. “As I said before, kindly take this seriously.”

“I'm being serious. Look, I was up in the woods on the west side of the temple grounds, near Kappabuchi. Doing that thing all folks gotta do sometimes, y'know?” Gojyo crossed his arms and looked Hakkai straight on. “I was just finishing up, and I saw this guy coming down through the trees. I didn't see his face, but I can tell you he was a little smaller than me, kinda skinny, and wearing a long coat, like some punk high school dropout pretending he's from the Matrix movies.”

Hakkai's jaw had fallen. He clapped it shut when he realized Gojyo was watching him with an expectant frown. “Did you see anything else?”

“Uh.” Gojyo scratched the back of his head, glancing up and to the right. “Well, once I got my bait and tackle tucked back in, I tried to go back to see where he'd come from, but the night watchman caught me and told me to buzz off.”

Hakkai kept an even expression. “And what time was this?”

Gojyo shrugged. “Uh, three? I don't really own a watch or cell phone or whatever, but it was about three hours before the doughnut store opened, so yeah, close to three.”

It matched up with the night watchman's account. Gojyo wasn't pulling a stunt on him. Hakkai felt something harden in his chest. “I see.” He surveyed Gojyo's features, the gaunt, tanned cheeks, the scars chasing up from his jawline towards his eyes, and the seriousness in his gaze undisguised by a loose smile.

“The way you're looking at me. It's like you're a hardened dick, yeah?” He snickered a little and lolled forward onto the desk, elbows carelessly sprawled on the table and his chin in his palms. “Like you've done this a hundred times. Grilled a suspect, I mean. Look, I heard about the murder the same time you did.” He shifted, and Hakkai could feel the table tremble as he shuffled his feet. His face and expression fell a little, his eyes rolling down, and Hakkai could nearly see him putting together his memories. “I had no idea what happened, just that there was some commotion, until I heard people talking about it. I figured you'd be looking to talk to me eventually if something had gone down up there.” He looked into Hakkai's face, holding eye contact. His gaze was even and steady. “Believe me, I ain't the guy you're looking for. I'd rather you catch him, too.”

Hakkai decided on a tried-and-true tactic to ensure he was telling the truth: “Sasaki-san, how long have you lived here?”

Gojyo's eyebrows raised with surprise, but he laughed after a second. "Shit, I dunno. A while, I guess. Six months or so. I don't keep track of time.”

Hakkai made a note of it. He had clearly surprised Gojyo with the sudden question, but nothing in him seemed to be lying. He would still have to investigate Sasaki to ensure any of his word was trustworthy, but even so, it was the only word he had to go on.

Hakkai straightened his notes and put them in a manila folder. “Alright, Sasaki-san –”

“You can call me Gojyo, y'know.”

“As you are transient, I would like to keep close tabs on you.” Frankness was Hakkai's favored approach, even if it made Gojyo scowl up from his slouch in the plastic chair. “Can I put you up in a hotel or see if anyone in our department has a spare futon for you?”

“I ain't going anywhere, but sure, whatever.” He shrugged, eyebrows raised, but his tone was agreeable enough. “I just want to help.”

Hakkai sensed pride in him, and there was determination in his gaze. He was already convinced due to his gut instinct that Gojyo was reliable, but it didn't stop his curiosity as to why. He much preferred things he knew to things he felt, but until he could resolve the former, he would trust the latter.

Gojyo followed Hakkai as he went to confer with Goku, and Hakkai didn't stop him. Better to keep an eye on him while he waited for someone to agree to take him in, or for Sergeant Genji to approve the funds request to house him. He knew he hadn't been mistaken when Gojyo's expression brightened as they entered the investigation office.

“Hey, Goku!” He grinned and clapped Goku's shoulder, then pushed his cap down on his head. “Can't believe you got pulled in on this. They'd really let a baby cop look at a murder case?”

“Can it, ya overgrown cockroach!” Goku slipped into his natural cant, like he was speaking to a schoolmate, and he grinned and cuffed Gojyo atop the head. “Just 'cause I'm new doesn't mean I'm stupid! Genji trusted me with this 'cause he knows how good I did in my classes, and I'm gonna show him how right he was!” Hakkai noticed Goku beam as he mentioned the Sergeant and smiled to himself.

“I assure you, Genji won't be disappointed.” He imagined Genji wasn't expecting much anyway, but he had to encourage his junior to try his best in the face of daunting odds. “Goku, have you had a chance to review my notes and the crime scene details?”

“Uh-huh. I've just finished, but I think there's still some guys canvassing for footprints and stuff.” Goku opened up a thick file in front of him. “I faxed a few things over to Ukiyo-Hakase, and he said he'd give you a call when he's got anything for you. But I can tell you what I've got so far.” He rifled through some of the pages, disheveled and only getting worse as Goku pawed his way through. Goku found a sheet of photo paper and passed it to Hakkai. “This is our victim, Nanami Hanako. Her family identified the body by her photograph.” Hakkai felt a cold spot in his chest at hearing her name, but the photograph of her in life eased it. She was a plain, average-looking girl, jet-black hair cut straight across her forehead and tied in a ponytail, wearing a forced smile for a school photographer. “She was seventeen, attended Morioka First, and still lived with her parents.” Goku hopped up to sit on the table behind him as Hakkai perused Goku's notes from his phone call with her parents. “Thing is, we had actually just spoken to them yesterday. She ran away and vanished two days ago. There was some sort of fight, but they didn't give details. They called us because she wasn't picking up her phone, but they thought she might have run to a cousin of hers who lives in town. We talked to the cousin; she hadn't heard from our victim either since she called her and let her know she was coming, and when she tried to call Ms. Nanami after that, she couldn't get in touch. We had just listed her as a missing person yesterday afternoon.”

Hakkai hummed assent. Goku leaned in as Hakkai flipped to the previous officers' notes. “She's unremarkable as a student, pretty average. Her family is neither especially wealthy nor poor, and there was no record of a ransom call. They let us check their home and mobile phone records, and there's nothing unusual. Even her phone just shows a call to the cousin.” Goku sighed, as Hakkai confirmed everything Goku was saying against the notes. Gojyo seemed to be listening with distinct interest, but had sealed his lips tight. “The parents' criminal records are clean, too, and there's never been any suspicion that anybody's done anything wrong, so it's probably not yakuza retribution …”

“Just a typical stray that got snapped up,” Gojyo muttered into his jacket collar, and both Goku and Hakkai turned towards him. He held his hands up. “Sorry.”

“No, no.” Goku smiled a little. “That, uh, kinda sums it up. Our best guess – uh, our _hypothesis_  so far was that she was a target for an opportunistic killer. He saw a defenseless young woman alone and took advantage.” Hakkai paled and put the notes down on the table beside Goku.

"Gojyo." He turned on his heel to face him, and hoped the stricken sensation in his chest wasn't communicated to his face. "Would you kindly step out of the room and let me discuss something sensitive with Sonoda-kun?"

"Huh?" Gojyo's eyebrows quirked with confusion, but he shrugged and dropped his hands. "Yeah, sure."

"There's a water cooler near the restrooms down the left-side hallway should you need either." Hakkai waited until Gojyo trudged out and shut the door behind him, before pivoting back around and asking Goku in a hush: "Was the young lady..." He cleared his throat, unable to bring himself to say the word. Goku frowned for a moment before gasping in understanding.

"Oh! Uh, no!" He scrabbled the file back from Hakkai's hands and pulled out a few documents. "Coroner checked. There's no evidence of a sexual assault." Relief drained through Hakkai's stomach, and the nausea he hadn't even noticed under his panic waned. "Uh, yeah." Goku passed Hakkai the coroner's examination documents and leaned back in his perch. "Telltale signs of a body left in water – the parts that were under were bloated. Of course, the water did affect her internal temperature, making it hard to determine how long she'd been dead, but from the general state of her, it was less than six hours from when she was discovered, and we won't get much more accurate than that." Goku then inhaled nervously. "Uh, there were signs of a struggle." He pulled one of the photographs, and Hakkai frowned. It was a close-up of the victim's neck, and there were sharp claw-marks across her collarbone. Goku pursed his lips in thought. "Other stuff might have been obscured by the water, like bruises disguised by the bloating, but that there's pretty obvious. Even the coroner wondered if it wasn't a kappa." Hakkai sighed, but tucked the file under his arm.

"I fear I'll be hearing that a lot."

"It's a good scapegoat, anyway. When I was told about kappas, they sounded pretty scary." Goku scrunched his nose. "Karin and Kururin are cute in the mascot uniforms, but my teacher told me that if you're not careful, they'll drag you under and eat your soul out through your butt. Plus, they think kids are the tastiest thing since meat buns. Tastier than meat buns, even."

"I don't believe Ms. Nanami counts as a child, Goku." Hakkai set his hands on his hips, and Goku rubbed his head.

"Yeah, but then there's what the guy kappas supposedly do to girls swimming alone. Maybe Ms. Nanaki went to the river alone, and the kappa saw her, and …" he shuddered, and Hakkai grimaced.

"Even you said there was no evidence of sexual assault."

"Yeah, but she was legs-under when we found her." Goku crossed his arms and lowered his head, then dropped from his seat to the ground. "It's possible that evidence got washed away in the stream and whoever or whatever did do it hoped we'd just say a kappa did it and forget about it." He scrunched his face up, eyebrows quirking as he thought. “Hey, you think maybe we ought'a come at this from the angle that a kappa might'a done it? Maybe whoever Gojyo saw was goin' back to the river, not leaving it.”

“Sonoda-kun.” Hakkai couldn't help the edge in his tone. “You're educated, you know better. Parents made up those stories to frighten children and explain things that science couldn't at the time, things we know for a fact today. We invented the kappas to explain the appearances of drowning victims, particularly the protruding rectums – caused by the aforementioned consumption of the soul through the anus.” Hakkai raised an eyebrow at Goku, adding leverage to the scolding. “We know better now.”

“Sorry.” Goku had cringed, holding his hands up. “Just … y'know, since we don't know yet … ” He recovered with a grin. “Keep all of our options open, right?”

"Well." Hakkai composed himself and set a hand on Goku's shoulder. "For now, I'm going to investigate this as the act of a twisted human. If I start seeing evidence it was a kappa, I'll warn you to watch your rear end around water." Goku chuckled weakly, and Hakkai straightened the papers in the file. "Thank you for your hard work, Sonoda-kun. I'm going to go check on our witness and make certain he hasn't wandered off."

"Gojyo? Nah, he's a good guy." Goku grinned, and began to gesticulate openly. "Last month, I was complaining that I was worried the comic shop would run out of the Mega-Size Jump release, cause you know all the kids in town line up around the corner, but he promised me he'd save me a spot in line at the comic shop so I could get in right when they open and pick up a copy before work, and I didn't believe him, but he totally did and was waiting for me, first in line at the door! He said he'd been there since, like, before the delivery truck came, just to make sure, and all he said he wanted was to read the One Piece when I was done with it." He looked delighted, an utter transformation from his serious expression. "So, yeah, Gojyo might kinda be a drifter, but he's reliable."

"That does remind me." Hakkai felt his brow furrow without his say-so at the thought. "I'd like to perform a background check on Sasaki-san. Find out whatever you can about him: where he came from, his family home, anything. If there are any school or criminal records for Mr. Sasaki, I'd like to see them."

Goku's brow worked in puzzlement over this. "You're looking at Gojyo? Well, uh, you're the detective."

"I'm not. But humor me." Hakkai smiled, patted Goku's shoulder again, and turned to leave.

Gojyo was waiting by the water cooler, cup in hand and tilted to his lips, when Hakkai cut through the office and approached. He let Gojyo finish his drink (though unable to keep himself observing the way his long throat worked around the water or his expression of relief at the cool sensation), then cleared his throat. "I've still not gotten confirmation on where I can keep you safe for the time being."

Gojyo cleared his throat and crossed his arms, setting his feet firmly on the floor. "I dunno if you will." He nodded, indicating something across the room, and Hakkai noticed Genji peering out of his office through the plastic cubicle dividers at Gojyo, glowering as if Gojyo had insulted his entire lineage. "If that guy's the one in charge of finding me a place to stay, I'm pretty sure he'd be happier if I were sleeping in the gutter."

Hakkai pursed his lips, then forced a bright, personable smile and waved across the office to Genji. Genji quickly shut his door, and Hakkai turned back to Gojyo. "I've got some papers to review, and I'm afraid it'll be rather boring. I'm just going to be reading. If you'd like–"

"I can wait." Gojyo set his hands in his pockets again and drew himself up to his full height. "I wanna help, even if that means waiting 'til you have more questions for me."

Hakkai found himself a little breathless looking at Gojyo. He'd interviewed witnesses before, but never one so straightforward and earnest. He should have been more suspicious of it, but either Goku's word or his own instincts told him to trust him. "Very well." He started to turn for his cubicle, but Genji suddenly emerged from his office and beckoned him.

"Choushi, Ukiyo-hakase just called. He says he's got something for you at his university office. Come here, I'll give you the station's train pass." Hakkai raised an eyebrow, but crossed the office to Genji's door. Genji thrust the station's pass into his hand, leaned his face close, and muttered, "Mind the NEET. I've got a bad feeling about him, something's not right." Hakkai nodded, and Genji's face twitched. "Watch out for that Ukiyo, too. He likes his work way too much." Genji backed away and shut the door in Hakkai's face, and Hakkai sighed helplessly and looked at the pass in his hand.

"I suppose I'm off to college."

* * *

Hakkai read as much as he could on the train ride from Tono through Hanamaki and the line-change to Oshu, where Dr. Ukiyo hosted his office at Graduate University for Advanced Studies. Tono couldn't keep a forensic scientist on payroll because there was no justification for it, but Ukiyo was kept on standby retainer just in case and worked at Graduate University for Advanced Studies as a research professor otherwise. Gojyo had tagged along for the ride, humming along with the music on someone's iPod behind him and standing close to Hakkai as they made their way from one crowded train car to the next. Hakkai vacantly mused between the skin-scrape analysis faxed from the coroner's office and the drug screen performed on the victim's blood that Gojyo could dearly use a bath, but his presence was otherwise bolstering. He didn't feel quite so small as he crossed into the dank basement, past a darkened laboratory, and into the doctor's office.

Ukiyo Kenichi, PhD., looked like the exact sort of man one would expect to become a scientist – glasses perched on his nose, his jet-black, greasy hair slicked back and unkempt, his labcoat stained with what looked like coffee. He was perched at his computer when Hakkai knocked, and through the glass on the door, Hakkai watched him close whatever he was looking at on his monitor before he stood. He answered the door with a lazy bow. "Officer Choushi, is it?" His voice was as greasy as his hair. Hakkai's gut instinct already told him why Genji had warned him. He smirked down his glasses as Hakkai entered and beckoned Gojyo to follow. "Oh, and is this your …" He screwed his face up as Gojyo shuffled past him. "Partner?"

"Sasaki-san is my only witness. If you have any information of value, I intend to check it against his account." He knew Gojyo would likely have nothing to contribute here, but after dragging him on a ninety-minute train ride, he had no intention of making him wait in the hall unless the information became especially sensitive. Gojyo seemed to know, too.

“I won't get in the way.” He propped himself against the wall and stood back, and Hakkai dusted off his gloves as Ukiyo went fishing through his sloppy desk, overloaded with papers, files, and what appeared to be ladies' fashion magazines.

Hakkai recalled reading some of Ukiyo's research while in school, an intriguing study on how ingestion of certain substances can affect cellular behavior and early decomposition, and had seen his name as a contributing researcher for some of his textbooks. He hadn't thought much of him, not knowing more than a name and occupation, but he wouldn't have imagined a professional and a scientist to keep his office in such disarray. Ukiyo muttered discontentedly to himself as he searched, and Hakkai took in his office, the books sliding off the buckling shelves with papers and bookmarks sticking out, the stack of coffee mugs in assorted states of fungal growth piled in a cardboard box near the door, and the empty ramen cup with something orange and hairy on the lip. Ukiyo chuckled under his breath as he glanced up at Hakkai over his glasses.

“You should see my home office. Hell, I hardly even go home anymore because I can't find a thing in there anymore.” He clicked his tongue. “Besides, the train ride home is impossible to catch late at night. I keep awful hours.” He finally yanked out a file, and how a new file had ended up that deep in the stack was a mystery Hakkai was unprepared to tackle, but Ukiyo held it out to Hakkai nonetheless. “I did what I could with what you gave me, but next time, see if you can't get me the body, eh?” He winked at Hakkai, then slumped into his office chair as Hakkai started to read through.

“I'll give you some spoilers, Detective. I don't think that girl drowned.” He rocked in the chair, laid out against the leather like a model pretending he just woke up good-looking, and smirked at Hakkai under lidded eyes.

“I'm not a detective. Just an officer.” Hakkai cleared his throat and turned the page over. He wasn't sure he liked how Ukiyo was looking at him, and Gojyo was tense just watching him. “But how do you mean?”

“Well, there's no evidence the water in her lungs was aspirated. The muscles are in the wrong position for getting any sort of successful breath. This looks like a strangling to me. I'm not even sure it was a forced drowning.” He rolled to a stand, then filed through his papers and set a few on top. “There's no sign of the bacterial growth you'd see in the lungs from a drowning, and I'm seeing none of the usual hallmarks that our pretty girl died in the water, either by accident or by force.”

“Oh?” Hakkai frowned and ran his eyes over the first few pages. That awful nagging feeling was starting to creep into his gut again, and the way Ukiyo was studying him, as if he were a particularly fascinating cadaver, wasn't helping.

“The fingerprints on the neck are a good indicator, too.” Ukiyo snapped his fingers to make Hakkai jump and raise his head, then whipped out and held up the photograph with the claw-marks on the neck. “See, go ahead and put your hand on my neck so that your index, middle, and ring fingers match this.” Hakkai felt his breath catch, but hesitantly extended a hand.

Gojyo scoffed from the door. “Don't make him lean over you like that, you won't be able to check what he's doing.” He strode across the office, tripping over a book but catching himself, and stood in front of Hakkai with his arms crossed. “I'll be your dummy.”

Hakkai set his lips in a thin line, hesitating for a long moment, then glanced at the photograph and put his fingers on Gojyo's neck. He found his hand wrapping around the front and side of Gojyo's neck. Ukiyo hummed appreciation, then stood and corrected Hakkai's hand where he gripped the column of Gojyo's throat. “Just like so. Her neck was slimmer, and the hand might have been bigger, but this explains your scratches if she was trying to fight back.”

“That does make sense.” Hakkai noticed that Gojyo was focused on a point somewhere behind him, over his shoulder, and only looked back at his face when he pulled his hand away. He smiled with practiced ease.

“Yeah, pretty sure this guy couldn't hurt me if he tried.” Gojyo snickered and shuffled back towards the wall and propped himself up again, but there was nothing casual in the way he watched Ukiyo where he bobbed in his rolling chair.

“Ah, that's the nice thing about detectives. They're deceptive. It's hard for others to tell what they're going to do until they do it.” Ukiyo grinned deviously at Hakkai, then settled back into his chair. “You can read through my full report and see if you see anything else in my data, but it's looking like a strangling. Maybe your kappa crawled up on land and dragged her in?” He rocked in his chair, rolling his eyes up at he thought. “Or it could have been some tourist looking for a good time that went bad.” A chill ran down Hakkai's spine, but Ukiyo threw his hands up. “Either way, it looks like your killer left the body and cleansed his sins at the shrine before walking off.”

Hakkai managed a weary laugh, bitter humor ebbing through the heavy substance. “Can sins like that truly be washed away so easily?” Ukiyo didn't answer, but instead lit a cigarette, and Hakkai turned a few more pages over in the report. The characters seemed to bleed together, and his head swam. Gojyo approached again, hanging at his shoulder as Hakkai pinched his brow and put the report against his chest. “I'm getting a feeling you're saying there's little evidence to go on.”

“Even worse.” Ukiyo chuckled, puffing wisps of smoke with it. “I'm saying that if your victim was strangled elsewhere, you don't even have a crime scene.” He sat forward and waggled an eyebrow at Hakkai. “But I imagine a non-detective wouldn't even want to look, eh?”

Hakkai's knuckles tightened around the paper. “And a consultant with no evidence is worthless.” He put on a grin like that of a cat inside of a canary cage, and touched Gojyo's arm. “Sasaki-san, let's go.” He bowed to Ukiyo. “You have my sergeant's telephone number if you have any information worth my time.” He spun on his heel, report still pressed to his chest, and Gojyo quickly hopped from his place and followed Hakkai out the door, only briefly glancing back at Ukiyo in their wake.

Ukiyo had gone silent at Hakkai's insult, but Gojyo heard him giggling as they closed the door.

“I have little to go on, Sasaki-san,” Hakkai admitted as they crossed through the hallway and into the sunlight of the broad campus grounds. “I'm going to comb the information I have for anything I can go on. I know you saw relatively little, but would you be willing to sit with a sketch artist?”

There was clear despair under Hakkai's professional tone, and Gojyo could clearly tell, but he merely smiled, picked up his pace to walk at Hakkai's side, and gently jostled his ribs with his elbow. “I'll do whatever I can. I'm the kinda guy who keeps my word, and when I say I'll help, I do it.”

On a day when nearly everything else had gone topsy-turvy, it was a relief that something, _something_  was stable.

* * *

Hakkai spent the afternoon reading at his desk as Gojyo sat with the sketch artist and the activity of the station whirled around him, phones ringing, his colleagues darting back and forth between offices. The news was spreading, and reporters from as far away as Hokkaido were calling for details they couldn't give yet. Instead, though, desperate tabloids sent reporters to the people on the street, picking up word of mouth and printing that: "A kappa did it."

Hakkai, in a fit of frustrated whimsy, was starting to concur. Perhaps their killer was precisely as mythical. The fingerprints from the throat injury were indistinct, bloated into smears by the water. The only usable partial that the coroner could pull matched nobody in their system. The scratches were deep, too, made by ragged fingernails. With no evidence of where the actual crime occurred, any evidence from the obvious struggle was likely gone by now, masked by time and weather. If he could somehow pass this off as the act of a youkai, his life would be immensely easier, and he could fall back into his routine and forget this like so many childhood stories.

But he couldn't. Goku had found a footprint in the area Gojyo had said he'd seen someone in, and Gojyo was doing his best to recall the details of the man he'd seen. Details were trickling out as officers peered in and dodged back out to whisper about it: an adult male, less than two meters tall, thin and wearing a long coat. A sharp profile, narrow eyes. Gojyo was struggling on specifics, grasping through the dark, but he was trying.

As long as he was trying, so would Hakkai. With Genji on and off the phone and Goku breaking out his college texts at his desk, he wasn't going to stop.

"Hakkai." Goku was waiting on the other side of his desk. He smiled wearily when Hakkai lifted his head to make eye contact. "Sergeant says I've been enough of a nuisance for today and to go home. He said you can go as soon as the witness is done, too."

"Did he?" Hakkai faintly realized he had no idea what time it was, only that it was starting to get dark. "I see. Thank you. Did he say what to do with him?"

Goku shuffled his feet. "He said that Iwate won't pay to put him up, and nobody's agreed to take him. I called Nee-san, and she said absolutely not. Sorry, senpai."

"I see." Hakkai felt a strange pang of guilt. "And have you gotten anything on Sasaki-san's background check?”

“Not much.” Goku scratched his head. “See, everyone, everywhere I called? Basically no record of a Sasaki Gojyo.” He started to number them all off on his fingers: “No government-issued I.D., driver's license, or professional license information. I found a birth record in Miyagi, but when I contacted the hospital to contact his parents, they only had a mother on record, and she's deceased.”

An orphan. It was very possible Gojyo simply had nowhere to go back to but a set of steps. Hakkai pinched his brow and took a breath. “No criminal record?”

“Nope.”

“Then I'll handle him.” Hakkai closed his work up and eased up to his feet. The blood that had pooled in the bottom of his thighs sank away, leaving his legs numb, but the sensation of sitting reading forensic reports for innumerable hours gave him a weird, sickly sort of nostalgia. He patted Goku on the shoulder. “Thank you for all of your help today.”

As Goku bounded to Genji's office to check out (and possibly show off, Hakkai mused with a chuckle), Hakkai went over to the interrogation room where Gojyo had been shut off with the artist. Hakkai peered in the window first and saw Gojyo holding his head as the artist packed up his pencils. He then knocked and opened the door. “Are you finished for today?”

The artist, a punk-looking young man with too many earrings and shaggy hair dyed green, scoffed. “For what it's worth. I'll try to clean up what I've got.” He granted Hakkai a toothy grin. “I'm pretty sure I'm awesome enough to handle it.” Gojyo groaned from his place, and as the artist departed, Gojyo grumbled something about “show-off” and “moron,” then swung his hair back over his shoulder to grant Hakkai that warm, appreciative grin to which Hakkai was too-quickly becoming accustomed.

"I gave 'em what I could." Gojyo kicked out of the chair and hefted himself up to a stand. "So, were you done with me for today?"

"I'm afraid I am," Hakkai answered, "and I'm terribly sorry for wasting your time."

Gojyo scoffed and waved a hand as if to shoo the notion off. "My time ain't worth much, believe me. You said something about putting me up somewhere to make sure I didn't go nowhere? Did that pan out?"

"Yes and no." Hakkai held the door open wide. "If you'd like, I'd like to make up for today by making you dinner. It's easier for me to cook for two, you see."

Gojyo's eyes widened, and his grin broadened with the same excitement. "Really? You don't seem like the type to take a guy home after spending just one day with him. Not that there's anything wrong with that."

Hakkai forced his mildness. "I suppose you prefer the girls who take you home after one pleasant wink and a sweet comment. I assure you, I'm a better chef than any of them."

Gojyo whistled and slapped his knee, choking back a cackle. "Harsh, man; I was just teasing! I'll be a good guest. I'm house-trained and everything."

Hakkai's chest quivered, and before he realized it, he was laughing softly into his cupped hand. "I should hope so. Come with me." He turned on his heel, and Gojyo, of course, followed.

The trip through the market that evening, each cramped aisle Hakkai wove up and down, was colored not by the packaged goods with their smiling mascots and the remnants of the day's fresh fruit, but rather with the whispers of gossiping housewives and little children, all talking about the same thing.

"Did you hear?"

"Over at Kappabuchi …"

"Do you think?"

"I always thought it was nothing but a story."

Gojyo, mercifully, was silent, allowing Hakkai the sort of comfortable quiet that he preferred and, really, needed today. "It's strange," he remarked, as he peered into the meat cooler. Gojyo hummed and tore his eyes away from the filet to the shaved beef Hakkai was ruminating over. "It's just like every day. I go to work, I go to the market, I go home and cook dinner. It's hard to think I spent the day investigating a murder rather than my usual routine.” He laughed weakly, but picked up a select package of meat. “This should be enough for the two of us, don't you think?”

Pleasure roiled in Hakkai's chest at Gojyo's approving smile. “Hey, that looks fine to me. Then again, I don't cook much. Y'know. At all.” He kept close to Hakkai's back as Hakkai turned to make his way to the front of the store, and though Gojyo hung back a step to gaze longingly at the beer in the cooler near the register, Hakkai felt his warmth through the scant distance between them like the weight of a winter jacket. It was welcome despite the late spring heat. He made certain to accomplish one last task of his daily routine: plucking a can of wet cat food from the shelf.

Hakkai's apartment was a short walk from the market, but Gojyo offered to carry his tote when they reached the steps. Hakkai lived on the second floor, in a typical two-floor apartment building, in a typical one-room apartment like one might see used by a student. One wall was dominated by bookshelves, neatly packed and sorted by subject, but the rest of the room was sparse. He had his kitchenette, a table and two cushions, a sofa just big enough for two, a small television on a low desk decorated with a few knickknacks, and a separate bathroom. “Home sweet home,” he announced, and waved Gojyo in. “Please, won't you come in?” Gojyo quickly slid his (filthy) shoes off.

“Sorry for disturbing.” He pulled his jacket off and shook it out, then looked around inside the little foyer. “Uh, I don't have any spare socks or anything.”

“And I don't have any spare slippers. I'm very sorry; I never have guests, and I have tatami mats anyway.” Hakkai slid his loafers off and set them beside the door, then stepped inside. He squinted at Gojyo's grimy shoes as he set them a small distance away from his own. “Our feet are nearly the same size, so you can use my bathroom slippers. Would you like to take a bath while I cook?”

Gojyo's eyes went wide again. “You mean... really? Do you have, like, a bathtub?”

“It's a Western-style tub, but yes.”

At this, Gojyo's face split into a broad grin like a child offered candy. “You're a real nice host, y'know?”

Gojyo stayed in the tub the entire time Hakkai worked on dinner. Hakkai found his biggest shirt and a set of oversized shorts and left them out for him, and put Gojyo's dirty denims and tee into his washer. He sporadically heard Gojyo splashing around over the rhythm of his knife against the board as he turned his mushrooms into slivers and his bok choy to shreds. He wondered just how long it had been since Gojyo had enjoyed a proper soak and supposed that he couldn't at all blame him for wanting to enjoy it. Gojyo re-emerged, utterly reeking of soap and still combing water out of his hair, as Hakkai set plates on the table. “Hey, uh, I'm really sorry, but I kinda had to drain the tub. I swear I rinsed off first, it's just–”

“It's fine. It'd have been cold by the time we finished eating anyway.” He moved the plate of pickles from the counter to the table and gestured at the spread of platters. “Please, enjoy.” Hakkai knelt at his usual spot, and watched, captivated, as Gojyo lowered himself to the cushion across from his, unoccupied since he moved in.

Gojyo clean was strikingly beautiful. His skin glowed; his red hair, still a little damp and tousled, was shiny and silky. Clothes that were baggy on Hakkai fit Gojyo rather snugly, but showed off his sleek, thin form. His table manners, as well, were unusually keen: “Thank you for the food.” He clapped his hands together and waited for Hakkai to do the same. Hakkai could tell just how eager he was, sucking back salivation at the beef stir fry, but he kept his hands tight on his lap until Hakkai served him.

“It's very simple. I usually only cook for myself, you see.” He shifted in his seiza, ankles trembling under his hips, as Gojyo took up the rice bowl Hakkai had put out for him.

“No, it's fantastic.” He shoveled a mouthful of rice in, then took a big bite of the beef. He dabbed his mouth dry before grinning and speaking again. “You even put out pickles. It's a really nice spread. You've got matching dishes and everything.” He held his bowl up and looked between his and Hakkai's. They had the same decorative etching of sakura blossoms and leaves all around the side. Hakkai laughed to himself.

“It's rare you find a set with just one of a dish.”

Gojyo ate with wild enthusiasm, muttering compliments between bites, but paused when he got to the bottom and served himself a generous helping of pickles. “Pickled cucumbers?”

“Cucumbers are cheap around here.” Hakkai filled his and Gojyo's tea cups again, Gojyo's first to ensure he didn't get the dregs. Gojyo chuckled, but ate his pickles with distinct relish.

“That's fine. They're my favorite kind of pickled vegetable, anyway. I'm actually super picky about pickled stuff – beggars can't be choosers, I know, but my mouth goes numb when I eat pickled plums.”

“I understand completely. Sonoda-kun, the junior at the station–”

“Goku,” Gojyo supplied with a smirk.

“ – Yes, Goku-kun, he can't eat wasabi.” Hakkai smiled to himself. “He swiped a piece of sushi off of Genji's plate when he wasn't looking at our Hanami picnic, but he didn't know Genji puts his wasabi under the fish before he eats it. The poor boy got such a terrible nosebleed his sister had to pick him up and take him to the doctor. He's almost lucky; Genji would have chewed him out much more if he weren't on the verge of passing out.”

Gojyo tossed his head and hair back and laughed, then finished his pickles and rice and clapped his hands together again. “Thank you for the feast.”

“Thank you for the feast,” Hakkai repeated, and Gojyo began to clear the table. “Oh, ah, I can–”

“It's fine. I want to help. You've been so stinkin' nice to me, I ought'a return the favor.” He took the plates to Hakkai's sink and fished out the sponge. “I don't have much to offer in return. I didn't even bring a gift. All I really have to offer is my body.” He winked over his shoulder, and Hakkai giggled to himself.

“I suppose if you'd like to help with the dishes, I can accept that.” Hakkai rose to check the laundry machine, but glanced at Gojyo's back as he worked. “You seem used to this. Do you do dishes somewhere to help yourself get by?”

“What, me?” Gojyo chuckled, but dug his knuckles in under the water. “Nah, I got other ways of getting by. Mostly the charity of others and my good looks.”

“Hmm.” Hakkai smiled dryly. “I suppose a handsome man like yourself gets taken home fairly often.”

“Well, maybe.” He shook the water off his hands, but Hakkai noticed he wasn't entirely looking back at him. “Out-of-towners, mostly, girls who are into flings they'll never see again.” He tossed his hair back. “I flirt a little and I can get into a hotel room for a night or two, get a hot meal, a cold beer, a shower, and some friendly company. I don't have to do their dishes, though.”

“No?” Hakkai raised an eyebrow, then returned his focus to wringing the water from Gojyo's shirt. The seams were restitched sloppily in a few places. Hakkai briefly mused that he could have done a better job before moving on to the jeans, which were in even worse repair. Gojyo, absorbed in his task, hummed a low note in response.

“Nah, strays like me?” He turned around, smearing his hands off on his shorts and grinning at Hakkai with all of his teeth. “We get by however we can.”

Hakkai found his smile wasn't as forced as it had been a moment ago. It was then, however, that he remembered the cat food.

Gojyo kept on with the dishes, but watched from the corner of his eye from his place at the sink as Hakkai opened the can and went to his balcony. He turned to see against the dying sunlight that Hakkai had quite a few potted plants on the railing with a few sprawling onto the fire escape, as well as a clothesline, but there was a little white cat waiting on the step. Hakkai knelt down, and Gojyo faintly heard him whispering and turned to watch.

“Hello, Snowball.” Hakkai set the can down and patted the cat on the head. It mewed piteously and rubbed against Hakkai's fingers and the back of his hands, then delved into the can. “Eat up, little one. I'm certain you have a long journey tonight.” Hakkai petted the cat for a moment longer, then closed the door to let the cat eat. Gojyo turned around to continue washing the dishes, and nonchalantly asked:

“Not your cat?”

“I'm not allowed to keep a cat.” Hakkai returned to the table and picked up the teapot. “But I like strays well enough. More tea?”

Gojyo focused on his task again, clearly taking the hint. “Sounds great.”

They spent the evening in content, companionable quiet, Hakkai reading on the sofa, and Gojyo eagerly flipping through channels and sitting too close to the television. He finally settled on some sort of game show that prominently featured women in skimpy bikinis. Hakkai didn't mind; it was that or watching the coverage of the murder on the news. (Hakkai was certain that if he heard someone say a single word more about kappas, he'd have to file a complaint.) It was nearly a normal night, with brief moments of light, congenial conversation about nothing, and certainly not the murder, until the hour grew late and Hakkai realized he'd read the same word in his book over and over a few times, and Gojyo was drooping in his place in front of the television set. Hakkai closed up his book and extended a hand first to lay on his shoulder, but cut himself short and tapped instead. “Sasaki-san? It's late, and I was up early. I'd like to go to sleep.” Gojyo yawned and stretched, and smiled sleepily back at him.

“Sure, yeah. Were you keeping me overnight?”

Hakkai couldn't suppress a smile. “If you don't mind.”

When Gojyo emerged from the bathroom, he found Hakkai sitting seiza in the corner beside the sofa, just above his head. He smelled incense and peered around to see a shrine set up with a small photograph of a young woman. Gojyo froze in place and waited until Hakkai finished praying. Hakkai turned around and tried to walk past Gojyo as if he weren't there, but Gojyo knelt down after Hakkai vacated the spot. “Sorry, didn't realize I hadn't paid respect to my host's family.”

Hakkai watched as Gojyo prayed silently and found his gaze landing on the portrait in the shrine. Gojyo lifted his head and studied the photo as well, then muttered, “She's too young to be your mom.”

“My sister, Kaname.” Hakkai's face fell, and he bit his lower lip. “She was my only family, ever since I was a child.”

Gojyo nodded a few times, mulling it over behind the fall of his hair. “I don't wanna be rude or pry, but … it wasn't that long ago she, uh, passed, right?”

“Six months ago.” Hakkai's voice broke, but he cleared his throat. “It … it was unfortunate.”

“I gotcha. Believe me, I understand.” Gojyo nodded. “Uh, I'm really sorry. I didn't know.”

“I don't talk about her often.” Hakkai couldn't do more than whisper, and he folded his arms across his chest. “I'm sorry. I'm tired. I'm going to brush my teeth.” He walked past Gojyo, tight-lipped, but as he got to the door of the bathroom, Gojyo cleared his throat again.

“I lost my mom when I was little. I never got to set up a shrine to her, and I don't even remember what she looks like anymore, y'know? So, it's good you can remember her.”

Hakkai felt the weight of those words dragging at his feet, and he heaved a sigh. “Yes. You're right. Excuse me.” He closed the bathroom door behind him and exhaled slowly.

No, he didn't talk of Kaname often. He didn't think of her often, only when he paid respects to her. Any word said of her was torn out of his heart as sure as if it had been embroidered in, taking flesh and some of his soul with it, and he felt as if he had so very little of either one left that he could lose no more.

Gojyo was loitering next to the futon when Hakkai came out, and he lifted a hand. “Hey, uh, I guess we didn't talk about where I'd sleep. I figure this is your bed, so, uh, maybe I could stretch out in the tub, or … ?”

“Sasaki-san, now.” Hakkai found a weary smile creep back onto his face. “There's enough space here for both of us. I've got a second pillow for when I sleep on my side, and some spare blankets; I think you'll be quite comfortable here.”

Gojyo shrugged. “Most nights, I wouldn't share a bed with a guy, but hey, beggars, choosers.” Then, he winked. “I'll make an exception for you.” Hakkai would have chastised him, but somehow, his gentle humor was welcome in the wake of the day.

Gojyo slept curled up on his side with strands of his hair tumbling into his face, and fell asleep quickly. Hakkai found himself watching Gojyo breathe for a very long time. Cicadas cried in the distance. Tono slept, very nearly the same as it ever was. Hakkai dreamed, eventually, of water.

* * *

 

**Liner Notes and Translations:**

Liner Notes and Translations - 1

Tono: A city in the Iwate region of Japan

Tono Monogatari: Literally “Tales of Tono” or “Tono Legend.” Written by Kunio Yanagita in 1912, Tono Monogatari is a compilation of folk legends of known youkai in Tono, including the kappa.

Golden Week and Obon: Golden Week is a series of government holidays at the end of April and beginning of May. Obon is a festival that takes place at the end of August. These two holidays effectively mark the beginning and end (respectively) of the busiest tourist season.

Joken-ji: A temple famed for the presence of kappas both in the Haseki river that flows behind it and the pond, Kappabuchi, located on its grounds. In addition to temple staff, a guide who goes by Kappa-Oji-San will show visitors and tourists how best to spot or catch kappa, and many will leave a cucumber tied to a rod in hopes of fishing one up. Joken-ji is guarded by statuettes of kappa-dogs, or kappa komainu, animals with dog-like bodies and kappa heads.

NEET: An anagram, standing for “Not Engaged in Education, Employment, or Training.” It is often used (generally speaking) derogatorily to describe jobless, shiftless young people who mooch off of their parents and play video games and watch anime all day.

Suffixes: Hakkai uses formal suffixes for everyone when he calls them by name. Hakkai uses “-san” for Gojyo because he does not know him well and for Genji because, though they are familiar, Genji is his senior. Hakkai uses “-kun” for Goku because Goku is both his junior and younger than him. If this were in Japanese, when Gojyo and Goku tell Hakkai he can call them by their first names, they would likely be saying to use Gojyo-kun or Goku-kun, respectively, as they are both considerably less formal than Hakkai. When Hakkai does use Gojyo's given name, he is using yobisute, or no suffix, which is either incredibly rude (as it is in Genji's case, who uses yobisute with nearly everyone) or indicative of extreme closeness, such as between family or lovers.

Service pistol: Guns are notoriously difficult to acquire in Japan, requiring multiple background checks, a mental examination, and a home inspection (where one would be required to show how the gun is stored), among many other steps. All police officers are issued a gun; however, many of them choose to leave it at the station at the end of the day.

Thank you for the meal and It was quite a feast: If you watch any Japanese anime wherein characters share a meal, you have likely heard the phrase “Itadakimasu.” This phrase, which I often see adapted into English as either “Thank you for the food!” or “It's time to eat!” depending on the character's inflection, literally means “I receive this food.” Meals are finished with the phrase “Gochiso sama deshita,” which translates directly to “It was quite a feast.” These phrases are thankful and respectful to both the host who provided the food and the animals who gave their lives so that the meal could be made, no matter the quality of food. However, thanking Gojyo for a doughnut passed on the street is a little extreme, but polite Hakkai would, and Gojyo, who exhibits impeccable table manners in this story, echoes them when Hakkai feeds him later on.

Fukusen-ji: A temple with a 17m tall wooden statue of Kannon (aka Kanzeon Bosatsu), the largest in Japan. The temple is located approximately 2km away from Joken-ji.

Tokyo U: Short for Tokyo University, the most prestigious college in Japan.

Asakusa: A ward of Tokyo known for geisha, historically known as a “pleasure district.” It has been surpassed by Shinjuku in the modern era, but it still has a bustling tourism business and a slightly higher crime rate than other areas of Tokyo.

Morioka First: Morioka is a neighboring city to Tono. Morioka First is a public high school.

Karin and Kururin: Karin is the mascot of Tono, a cartoonish kappa holding a bellflower. Kururin is his wife, a pink kappa.

Hakase: “Professor.”

Graduate University for Advanced Studies: A prestigious university located in a neighboring district to Tono, with a well-known Life Studies department.

Nee-san: An abbreviation of “ane-san,” or “big sister.”

Sorry for disturbing: A traditional phrase said when entering a home as a guest. It should be noted that one does not wear shoes inside the home, either slippers or bare feet (especially bare feet on tatami mats). There is also a separate set of slippers for bathroom use.

Western-style tub: Japanese tubs are traditionally very deep but not as long as traditional Western tubs. It is also worth noting that bathing has a certain ritual to it. The tub is for soaking rather than actual washing, and bathers will rinse off in a separate shower before and after soaking. The bathtub is filled once with very hot water, and family members soak in order. Usually guests go first, followed by the father, then the mother, then the children in order of age from oldest to youngest. The water should remain hot enough for the last member of the family to bathe without being drained. This is why Hakkai allows Gojyo to go first, and also why Gojyo apologizes for draining the tub after making it filthy, but Hakkai recognizes that the shallower Western-style tub would lose its heat before he got a chance to use it.

Pickled cucumbers: Japanese dinners are served with a main course, vegetables, rice, often a soup, and usually pickled vegetables. The pickles are eaten last, mixed with the last of one's rice. This can be any kind of pickle, but cucumbers are common.

Sitting _seiza_ : Proper, formal seating, with one's calves directly under their thighs and ankles under the hip.

Shrine: Japanese families maintain home shrines to their lost beloved, usually with a photograph and incense burners for offerings.

 


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation continues, and the mystery hanging over Hakkai's head only gathers darker.

**2:**

Out of the depths of sleep, Hakkai rose to the waking world and blinked sand from his eyes, to find he was nose to nose with Gojyo. He'd ended up tugging some of Gojyo's blankets off of him in the night, but Gojyo hadn't minded. He was halfway under the sheet and sprawled across the thin rim of space he had, smiling contently in his dreams. Morning light, white on his tanned cheeks, etched the lines of his cheek and jaw in profile. He was, plainly put, beautiful. Hakkai knew he'd been handsome with an easy, warm grin in place, but the image of him at peace was such that comparing the two was like a contrast of sunrise and sunset. He extended a hand and ran it down Gojyo's stubble-coated jaw, and faintly realized he hadn't slept so close to someone since … since …

Out of nowhere, Hakkai's phone rang, and he rolled over and flung a hand out to find it. It was Genji's number again, and Hakkai's stomach instantly flipped. He sat up and answered, then rose to a stand. “Sergeant?”

“Hakkai.” Hakkai's insides quaked when Genji paused. “I need you at Joken-ji. There's another body.”

“Oh, no.”

Hakkai's uniform shirt was wrinkled, but he tucked it in and smoothed himself out as quickly as he could, still blinking grit from his eyes behind his glasses. Gojyo roused as he slid his belt on, blinking back sleep. He didn't say a word, but heaved himself up to his feet. “Wherever you're going, I'm coming. Is that cool?”

Hakkai didn't have time to argue. “As you wish. Just follow instructions as given.”

He hurried over to the temple with Gojyo lagging a few steps behind him, cigarette in hand. Hakkai saw him pause at the gate, but he stomped out his cigarette into the dirt next to the sidewalk and trudged over to the purification pool to rinse his hands. Hakkai muttered a quick apology to the gods and hurried past to the river behind the temple, where someone had strung out caution tape and one of the other junior officers was talking to the attendants. Genji was there, too, bags under his droopy eyes, his hair mussed and greasy under his cap, and Hakkai approached him first.

“The night attendant didn't see it this time, either, but it was found when the first morning attendant got here.”

“Gracious.” Hakkai went to step past Genji, who halted him.

“The body is still there. They didn't touch it this time, and Goku is still taking photographs. Ukiyo lives in town; we already contacted him, and he's going to have it taken to his office personally. Our coroner has done the initial examination.”

Hakkai bit his lower lip and clenched and released his fists a few times. “Tell me about our victim.”

“Male. Late teens to early twenties.” Genji folded his arms, surprisingly calm. “Clear strangulation marks around the neck. Fingernails torn off in a struggle. He fought back.”

Hakkai sucked in air and tried to sort his thoughts. “Let me see the crime scene.”

Genji followed Hakkai back, but Hakkai noticed him looking over his shoulder and realized Gojyo had followed. He turned around and saw Gojyo pushing the tape down to step over it. “Sasaki-san, please stay back behind the tape.” Gojyo held his hands up and stepped back, but Hakkai noticed him creeping along the perimeter, and Genji growled into Hakkai's ear.

“You forgot your gun but brought the drifter.”

Hakkai checked his hip, and realized that no, he didn't have his pistol. “I didn't stop at the station.”

Genji huffed, but nodded towards Gojyo. “Why did you bring him?”

Hakkai didn't have an answer, but he had a valid truth: “I couldn't leave him alone in the house.” Genji grunted and threw Gojyo a forbidding look. Gojyo rolled his eyes, but didn't say a word back.

The corpse was covered with a white sheet, and Goku was taking pictures of the crime scene, his pants hiked up to his knees and his shoes and socks left on the shore as he trudged around the shallows. Genji whistled, and Goku jerked upright and grinned at Hakkai and Genji. “Hey, senpai, boss. I'm still working.”

Hakkai cupped a hand to his mouth: “Can you take a moment to tell me what you know?”

“Not much to tell yet.” Goku trotted closer, but slid on the rocks, yelping his displeasure until he caught himself.

“Careful!” Genji snarled, showing his teeth. “One cadaver's enough for this crime scene.”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry!” He gingerly trotted over the rocks to rejoin them, and brought up the digital camera's display. “I found drag marks where the ground gets wet, but the leaves in the woods were kinda messy already, so it's kinda impossible to tell which direction it came from.” He scrolled to an image showing distinct marks in the earth, disturbed leaves marking a path. “I'm still trying to check things out, so– ”

“Oi! Hakkai!” Gojyo waved from his spot behind the line, and all three of them turned towards him. “Goku, you might wanna snap this.” He pointed to some of the lines left in the river. “These rods are broken. He must'a dragged 'em down through the shallows right here. It's like you said yesterday.”

“Oh, really?” Goku gasped and bounded over, and Hakkai followed close behind. Indeed, a line of the rods where people had offered cucumbers to the kappas had been broken, the cucumbers gone, and there were more drag marks in the dirt. Goku wheezed and whipped his camera up to his face. Gojyo stepped back and away.

“I'm just gonna get outta your way, if you wanna block all this off–”

There was a shout from the shore. “That proves it! That proves it!” Gojyo, Hakkai, and Genji all turned and saw one of the older attendants in hysterics, near tears. “We've offended them! The kappas! They must be angry!”

“Sir.” Hakkai raised his voice and stepped towards him. “We are only looking at human suspects. Kappas are nothing but a story to scare children. If you shout like that, you're only going to scare yourself.”

The attendants all started to shout back now: “They live here, how dare you!”

“If we paid them proper respect instead of making them a tourist trap, we could live in peace with them!”

“Quiet!” Genji marched over the line and towards them. “You bunch of idiots really want to buy into that kappa shit? Go in the pond and see if they're down there, and don't come up 'til you find them!”

“Sir!” One of the junior officers interrupted from the office door and bolted out towards them, breaking up any retort the attendants might have tossed back. “Sir, one of the security cameras across the street caught someone leaving the temple early this morning!”

“Why the fuck are you telling me that? Find the asshole and arrest him!” Genji waved an arm like an emperor over a coliseum, and the junior officer yelped and bolted in the opposite direction, already digging for his phone. Genji spun around to Hakkai, Gojyo, and Goku, who'd stopped taking photos to titter at the excitement with his hands clapped over his mouth. Genji narrowed his focus to Hakkai, scowling. “Choushi, go find out who it was, and get some goddamned answers out of him!”

“Sir.” Hakkai stepped over the line again and motioned to Gojyo. “Come with me. I want you to look at the suspect once he's been arrested.” Gojyo nodded and fell in line behind him.

“You don't have to tell me twice.” 

* * *

The first thing Hakkai saw when he entered the station was a massive, tanned man with dense dreadlocks under a sun-stained bandanna standing at the front desk of the station with a large backpack at his side. He loomed over everyone else in the room, speaking to the officer at the desk in slow, careful, stiff Japanese:

“My. Friend. Is. Here. Call. Embassy. American. Did. Nothing. Wrong.”

Hakkai walked past him, feeling the man's eyes on his back at he circled the desk. Gojyo whistled. “Man, looks like one of them bodybuilders.” He mimicked some Olympian poses, flexing his muscles. “He could probably rip everyone in this room limb from limb.”

Hakkai clamped down on a shiver and glanced back at the huge man again. He looked extraordinarily calm for having his friend under arrest in a foreign country, but Hakkai knew appearances could be deceiving. “Let's not give him cause to do so.”

Hakkai left Gojyo to wait in one of the interview rooms and went to start the interrogation on his own. The suspect had been placed in a holding cell in the back of the station, so Hakkai had been told, and he reviewed the information in the folder offered to him at the door: an American tourist, twenty years old, traveling with a group of the same. As he approached, however, he heard a brash voice speaking with a drawl and a hint of a Kansai accent:

“My goodness, y'all sure are stiff! Won't someone tell me what, exactly, y'all are holdin' me for?” Hakkai rounded the corner to see a pale-skinned, fair-haired man lolling at the bars, smirking at the two officers supervising him. His eyes – blue – settled on Hakkai, and his grin broadened. “Oh, my, you're bringing in Glasses-han here to grill me; I must be in deep trouble.” He thrust his hand out through the bars. “The name's Hazel Grouse, and it seems I've done something?”

Hakkai put a handcuff around the extended hand. “Other hand please, and I'll escort you.”

Hazel did not stop talking as Hakkai guided him through the office and into the interview room. Hakkai kept his mouth shut, but the man's voice was like a grater, and it was starting to rub him raw. He tried not to let his annoyance show as he wrenched the American – Hazel, Hakkai reminded himself, he has a name – by the arm and put him into the chair. Hazel was clicking his tongue. "So rough! You'd think I'd actually hurt someone you knew!"

Hakkai chose not to answer him, but, instead took out the photograph of Hazel leaving the temple and set his notepad on the table. "My name is Officer Choushi. I'm going to ask you some questions. Do you understand me?”

Hazel answered with a quick but sneering smile. “Oh, yes, certainly.”

Hakkai, all business, took up his pen and locked his eyes onto Hazel. He pushed the photograph forward and tapped Hazel's face in the image. “You were seen walking in front of this convenience store from Joken-ji temple, at or around four this morning, correct?"

Hazel's jaw clicked shut, but he quickly clapped both hands over his mouth to smother a giggle. "Oh, my, is that what this is about?"

"It is, yes.” Hakkai tapped the bottom of his pen on the notepad a few times. “Can you explain what you were doing at Joken-ji last night?"

Hazel giggled again, turning a little pink, and he looked left and right. "Will y'all promise not to tell my youth group counselor? It's a little embarrassing."

Hakkai, po-faced, could only stare, pen at the ready. "I don't believe you understand your situation. You are under arrest and suspected of a very serious crime."

"Oh, golly gracious, I didn't know it was that bad! I didn't damage nothing important, you see." Hakkai felt heat roar to his cheeks at Hazel's flippant dismissal.

"Kindly explain the circumstances."

Hazel sucked in a breath and threw his hands out. "Well! Y'see, the legal drinkin' age back home is 21, and the legal drinkin' age here is 20, y'see? And my birthday was last week, big Two-Oh for me! Now, me and the rest of my missionary youth group are backpacking through Japan on our summer vacation, spreadin' the love and joy of Christ to the heathens–"

"To the point: why were you at Joken-ji?" Hakkai dropped his pen and laced his fingers on the table to keep them from shaking.

Hazel seemed taken aback, but it didn't keep his mouth shut long. "Well, y'see, Choushi-han, the fellas decided to give me sake. I didn't know just how strong it was, and before I knew it, I was pretty loose. Someone gave me the bright idea to skinny-dip in the troll pond behind that shrine, and lo and behold, naked as a jaybird into the troll pond I went. I got in, I took a selfie, I left." Hazel rolled his eyes and giggled again. "Gracious, does that sake give ya a headache, though! I'd swear my head was splittin' open if Gat didn't keep painkillers on him and dose me up but good.”

Unamused, Hakkai rubbed his chin. "You took a … selfie."

"It's on my phone, but y'all took my phone." Hazel tapped his feet against the ground. Hakkai rose for the door and called for one of the junior officers to find Hazel's mobile phone. As he waited, he studied Hazel. As perky as he was for someone who claimed to have a hangover headache, Hazel had maintained eye contact except for his exuberant gesticulation and little eyerolls. He hadn't gone searching in his imagination for the story, only his memory. There were other details that caught Hakkai's attention as well.

"You said backpacking. If I understand correctly, that means hitchhiking with limited provisions." Hazel's eyes widened when Hakkai spoke, and he squinted and raised a hand.

"'Provisions.' Don't know that one. What's that?"

"Supplies. No rolling suitcases, everything in a single bag." Hakkai couldn't be angry at Hazel for that; his Japanese was impressive for a foreigner. The junior officer passed Hazel's phone to Hakkai through the cracked door, and Hakkai peered out. "Get his backpack and have Officer Sonoda search it." Hakkai sat and held the phone out to Hazel. "What's the code?"

"0316.” Hazel smirked and recited in perfect, textbook Japanese: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Hakkai ignored Hazel but typed it in and found the gallery. Indeed, right at the front, there was an image of Hazel, his scrawny, naked chest paler than his porcelain face, throwing up a peace sign and standing at what appeared to be the shallow end of Kappabuchi.

"You realize that this is incredibly disrespectful to our religion, our culture, and the people who take care of that place, do you not?" Hakkai set the phone down behind him and turned to frown at Hazel. Hazel scoffed and shrugged broadly.

"You're really gonna get all up in arms over me dippin' in the pool? Them water trolls are just a stupid fairy tale."

"I would never visit a Christian church and urinate in your holy water." Hakkai found himself frowning and willed his face to neutrality. "That is neither here nor there. Was anyone else there when you were there?"

"Gosh, I don't rightly know. I was a little plastered." Hazel crossed his arms. "Didn't see nothing or hear anything but leaves. Why? Did somethin' else happen?"

Hakkai let the silence sit as he considered Hazel. Finally, he inhaled as deep as he could, took up his pen, and exhaled slowly. “Why are you in Japan?”

Hazel frowned, but leaned forward. “Why, didn't I say? I decided to spend my summer spreading the love of Christ all over Japan.”

“Your Japanese is impeccable.” Hakkai scribbled down what Hazel had said before, but glanced up to make sure Hazel was still making eye contact with him.

“Why, yes it is, sir.” He grinned. “I took Japanese as a minor, starting in high school and into college. I was thinkin' I might teach over here after I graduate.” He chuckled and leaned in. “My first teacher spoke Kansai-ben, y'see, so I picked up a few of his speech patterns. Gets me funny looks, but it's me, doncha think?”

“It's something.” Hakkai finished taking notes, and sat back. “I have nothing else to say to you at the moment. I have asked my colleagues to investigate you as well, and as soon as they have more information for me, I will address that with you.”

“Oh, my.” Hazel giggled and leaned back in his seat. “So tense, Glasses-han. I'm gettin' the feeling whoever you're lookin' for, you really don't like 'em. Or is it just me?”

Hakkai took it in, then put on his politest, most vacant smile. “Forgive me, but I'm not so jaded that I treat vandals like school children playing hooky. I also am rather disgusted that you would dismiss violating one of our holy spaces as a mere prank, whether or not I take any stock in its holiness notwithstanding.” He set his hand on his chin and leveled Hazel with an even smile and a glower he knew could freeze nitrogen. “It epitomizes the phrase 'Ugly American,' don't you think?”

Hazel laughed, slapping his knee. “My, I only got about two-thirds of that, but I think I know what you're saying. Back home, we don't always take too kindly to foreigners, neither.”

Hakkai pursed his lips and straightened his back. “I have no problem with foreigners. However, I ask that you treat our country and our people with a certain degree of respect.”

“Sure, sure, or just _go home_ , right?” Hazel was still grinning like a Cheshire cat despite his position. “Nice to know that despite all y'alls good manners, y'all can be just as nasty as anyone else.”

Hakkai snorted, anger simmering in his throat. “At least we attempt to hide what we are in our country, instead of swimming naked in religious spaces.”

The door swung open just then, and Goku stumbled in, grinning and carrying a big backpack in front of him. “Hey, Choushi-san, that big guy who speaks a little Japanese said this is his friend's bag!”

“Mind yourself, this one speaks a lot of Japanese.” Hakkai jerked his head towards Hazel, but took the backpack and set it on the table. “Gloves, please.”

He snapped on a pair of gloves, got a long stick from one of the drawers, and bit by bit pulled all of Hazel's belongings from his bag. Goku helped spread some of the shirts and shorts out, but when Hakkai hit bottom, there was no jacket whatsoever and nothing at all that could have been construed as a long coat even in the dark. Hazel watched with amusement, giggling and blushing as Goku unfolded his underwear, and teasing from his place. “I do hope y'all have probable cause for all that. Gracious, if you tell me what you're looking for, I can tell you where it is.”

“Never you mind.” Hakkai sighed again and turned to face Hazel. “Tell me, where were you night before last?”

“Ooh, we were sightseeing in Morioka City! They got that lovely castle, y'know? We got to Tono just yesterday afternoon.” Hazel rocked in the chair a bit, flexing his wrists. “Ask Gat, my big friend who don't speak much Japanese. He'll tell you the same. He might even still have our bus tickets.”

Hakkai motioned to Goku, who nodded and left the room. Then, he knocked on the wall behind him. There was a knock on the door a second later, and Hakkai peered out to see Genji waiting.

“Sergeant.”

Genji looked exhausted, his hand coming to his mouth as if he were smoking the cigarette he desperately needed. “Choushi, your eyewitness is saying there's no way this kid is the guy he saw. I think you're finding the exact same thing. We talked to the big guy, Hawk-san, and he was able to tell us that he was with Grouse and the rest of their youth group up until around three-thirty last night, until Grouse went off to jump in the pond, and he was back from his dip twenty minutes later. He picked Grouse up from his swim, likely down the road from the cameras. He said their hostel might have a camera that shows them coming in.”

“Grouse-san doesn't seem to be lying.” Hakkai dragged his fingers through his hair. “Dear me, it just couldn't be easy, could it?”

“The second Sonoda comes back with the bus ticket, Grouse's alibi is gonna be waterproof.” Genji propped himself on the doorframe and glowered past Hakkai at Hazel, who was perched attentively on the edge of his seat and straining to listen. “I don't like it either, but I'll talk to our prosecutors and at least fine the little jackass for public indecency. That's likely all we'll be able to get on him. Once Sonoda's confirmed the story, you clear out. I want you and your tag-along to scour the street for any other possible witnesses.”

Hakkai started to protest, but the sentiment died, stillborn and sticky in his throat. Despite his feelings, Genji was his superior officer, and that was an order. He clapped his jaw shut, nodded, and closed the door. Hazel was rocking in the chair, but dropped the legs when Hakkai approached the table again. “I'm guessing your boss there is telling you to cut me loose?”

“Not exactly, but our time together will soon come to a close.” Hakkai sat again, his elbows on the table, and he folded his arms in front of him. “I have nothing more to say to you, so please be quiet until my colleague returns with more information.”

Hazel blinked a few times, then split his face into a broad smirk. “Goodness. Y'know, the Good Book teaches us to be kind to strangers in a strange land.”

“The only books I'm interested in are textbooks, Mr. Grouse.” Hakkai wrung his hands together, refusing to break eye contact. Hazel, however, batted his eyelashes and leaned in uncomfortably close to Hakkai.

“Perhaps I can change your mind, Glasses-han.” He put his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his palms. “Tell me, Mr. Detective, have you heard the story of how Christ died for your sins?”

A flare of anger flashed through Hakkai's chest, like a firework that went off all at once then smoldered into seething-hot ash through his lungs and heart. “I believe I've said it once, Mr. Grouse: I've got no interest in nonsense stories.”

The door burst open, and Goku poked his head in. “Choushi-san, you're needed.” He held the door, and Hakkai couldn't rise fast enough to depart. Hazel merely giggled in his wake.

“That's too bad.”

Hakkai shut the door behind him, wishing he could put that pest out of his mind so easily. Fortunately, there was a distraction dressed in his clothes waiting at the end of the hall. Gojyo seemed to be talking to Genji, though talking only halfway described it. Gojyo was leaning towards him, leering with heat in his smirk, and Genji was glowering at him as if he'd spit on his shoes. Hakkai approached, only to catch the last snippet of their conversation:

“... and what's an uptight ass like you doing in a podunk, slapdash little unit like this, anyway?”

“We need cops out here to deal with creeps like you,” Genji spat back, then turned his back and walked off. “Crawl back to your master; I have better things to do.”

Gojyo reared up, angry, but Hakkai tugged his sleeve. He spun around, and his anger instantly dissolved to a wearied smile. “Oh. Yo. Done with that tourist creep?”

“Fortunately, yes. Come with me, I'd like to survey the people in town, and if you could keep an eye open–”

“You got it.” Gojyo fell in at his side and followed Hakkai as he traversed the halls towards the exit. As nice as it felt to have a partner again (brick-sturdy and durable when he knew how fragile life could be), Hakkai cast a curious eye to Gojyo.

“You don't care for small towns?”

“What, me? Oh, uh, I don't hate them.” Gojyo shrugged and glanced at the wall, his gaze darting to trace the Wanted posters. “Never lived anywhere else. I'd like to see other places, but, well, just ain't in the cards. I dunno, you seem to hate people who are from other places.”

It wasn't the same burst of rage that had accompanied Hazel's words, but irritation tingled in Hakkai's throat and tinged his words with sourness: “I don't like people who think they have carte-blanche to do what they want, where they want. I used to live somewhere where many more tourists visited, and they treat Japan like a garbage bin. I prefer smaller towns and people in smaller towns.”

“I dunno, small towns got their own problems. Believe me.” Gojyo rolled his eyes and hung close to Hakkai, his voice dropping to a gravelly mutter: “Trouble is, folks all talk about the same boring things over and over, and once a rumor starts, everyone just grabs on and doesn't let go.”

Hakkai raised an eyebrow, but Gojyo's words twisted in his guts and wrought his intestines into knots. He already had a bad feeling he knew precisely what Gojyo meant.

* * *

Hakkai, with his little notepad at the ready, asked the nice gentleman who ran the fish market across the street from the back side of the shrine if he'd seen anyone while receiving the morning delivery. The man only wiped his hands on his apron and chuckled.

“Of course not. Kappas are too smart to be seen on the road. He probably swam back to whatever river he came from already.” He returned to gutting his fish as if he hadn't said something strange, leaving Hakkai in the odd position of trying not to look shocked while being utterly gobsmacked on the inside.

“We have evidence the killer came down to the street through the woods.”

“Probably just a fox,” the fishmonger laughed again and shook his head, as if Hakkai were a small child asking why the sun rose and set. “No, nobody past here this morning. If you want to catch you a kappa, I'd ask Kappa-Oji-san!”

Hakkai inhaled, because when one has nothing nice to say, one should say nothing, but Hakkai couldn't figure out what to do with the hot air built up in his head than to sigh it out, utter a quick “Thank you for your time,” and pivot to where Gojyo was studying the filets with feigned interest. “We're leaving.”

Gojyo snickered as he and Hakkai crossed the threshold. “Man, seems like more's rotten in that guy's place than the shrimp.” Hakkai laughed through his nose, but couldn't find as much humor in it as he wanted to.

The women at the bookstore fretted at Hakkai's questions, but both answered, “I didn't see the kappa, no, and I hope I never do!” One worried under her breath about her poor daughter, and the other sighed her despair and whispered a prayer under her breath.

At the liquor store, the owner checked the camera, but said he hadn't seen anything. However, his two little children barreled in, apologizing for being late, and Hakkai heard him shout a warning as he was leaving: “You two better be careful wandering around, or that kappa will grab you!”

Even the 24-hour convenience store clerk could only check their ledger. “No, nobody strange. Well, Ukiyo-hakase's kind of strange, but when he does come by, it's usually at four in the morning. He keeps weird hours, so I understand.” The clerk chuckled as Hakkai scratched his head. “Don't know why a kappa would come by a convenience store; we don't sell cucumbers here.”

Hakkai went from store to store with Gojyo at his back, certain his sword-straight spine was being beaten into an arc with each interview. Nobody had any valuable information. Everyone just wanted to talk about kappa this, kappa that. From the teenager at the game shop (“I bet the kappa just got lonely and forgot humans couldn't swim.”) to the old woman on her porch (“The kappa's probably angry at all those tourists, and he's trying to scare folks off.”), everyone had already decided it was a kappa, and if they had any good information, they'd already blocked it off rather than bother to consider even a single alternative. Hakkai was left at the end of the road, slumped over and scrubbing his face with his hand as he marked off the last building on his little notepad.

“Nothing at all,” he lamented quietly. Gojyo, who'd hung a few steps behind him all day, dragged on a crushed, bent cigarette, remained silent, but propped himself against the lightpost next to Hakkai and blew smoke out into the street.

"You kinda knew this was coming, didn't ya? I don't wanna say 'I told ya so,' but …"

"No, no, you're right." Hakkai crumpled the note, then quickly smoothed it out, folded it back into the pad, and tucked it into his back pocket. He studied Gojyo for a moment, running his eyes down Gojyo's lanky form. Though Gojyo had been quiet but for a few smirks and quips, he was keeping Hakkai upright, if only because it would be humiliating to give up with a _NEET_ , for goodness' sake, still watching him. "Perhaps … perhaps I should talk to someone who might hear reason. A man of science, as it were." He took out his mobile phone, frowning at the number his thumb hovered over, then dialed.

Dr. Ukiyo didn't pick up his phone, but just as Hakkai started towards the train station with Gojyo in tow, he received a text with Ukiyo's home address and an invitation to come see what he'd put together. His home office wasn't far from the Joken-ji neighborhood, but when Hakkai considered that the convenience store owner had said Ukiyo was a late night regular, that didn't surprise him. The home itself was an unassuming old place, and Ukiyo slid the front door open as Hakkai and Gojyo approached. "Hello hello, Officer Do-right! Even got your best police dog in tow, I see. Come in, come in, don't bother with your shoes!"

Ukiyo didn't have slippers for guests, so Hakkai took his invitation to leave his shoes on. Gojyo, however, took his off and left them by the door, and he followed Hakkai and Ukiyo through the house while sliding on his socks. Like Ukiyo had said, it was a mess on par with his university office, books laden with notes sticking out of the sides and tops stacked to the ceiling from the floor rather than on a shelf. "You're lucky the Sergeant caught me at home," Ukiyo drawled, and slung an arm around Hakkai's shoulder. Hakkai gingerly removed it, but Ukiyo took the brush-off in stride and sashayed around his table and to his desk. "I examined your second corpse personally. I've got the basic data for your review, as well, and a written report tomorrow, but you're a smart man." He found a stack of papers and thrust them towards Hakkai's chest. Hakkai accepted and began to flip through the diagrams and charts, until Ukiyo flung his arm over his shoulder again. "Preliminary summary: seems like you've got yourself an angry kappa." He laughed through his nose, but Hakkai huffed and folded the diagrams to his chest.

"Doctor, I find absolutely no humor in that. Take this seriously, if you please."

"Oh, I do, Detective, I swear. Dreadfully so." Ukiyo broke from Hakkai's side to pace behind him, and Hakkai lifted the reports to start reading over them again. Gojyo watched, squinting at Ukiyo with suspicion like a dog scenting sulfur. "But it certainly is easier to believe in youkai than monsters wearing human flesh living under your nose." He sighed in mock-mourning and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Not to spoil the fun for you, but I won't make you read the whole thing. Your victim is Hanamaki Yoichi, a sixteen-year-old high school student. His ID was discovered in his pants pocket, along with a cellphone that was completely ruined by the water. His mother reported him missing this morning, and your Sergeant delivered the bad news after I ID'ed him." Hakkai grimaced and flipped a few more pages, taking the information in as quickly as possible. Ukiyo fished out a cigarette and lit up, despite the papers on the floor and piled high on every flat surface. "There's a tech team from Oshu reviewing his computer and cell phone records, and they found an SMS conversation with a friend complaining about his mother, and how he had a plan to get revenge on her for refusing him his allowance." Hakkai stopped reading and instead glowered at Ukiyo as he blew smoke rings and tapped ash onto a pile of wet garbage in an overflowing wastebin. "There were fingerprints on his neck and some minor wounds on the arms and torso, and though I did get one good fingerprint off of him, it didn't show in the system of known criminals or those found in any other case in Japan, open or closed. Either your killer is smart enough to not get caught, or he's new to the art."

"Method of homicide?" Hakkai's voice and expression had gone flat, as if crushed.

"Strangulation. There are striations around the neck indicative that he was choked first, then put in the water." Ukiyo reached out from behind Hakkai and hooked his hand around and under Hakkai's chin. "Like so." Gojyo yelped and hurtled forward, but Hakkai caught Ukiyo's wrist and thrust it up, then pivoted in place to glower at Ukiyo without letting go of him.

"I'll thank you to keep your hands to yourself." Ukiyo had thrown his free hand up, but Hakkai had the other in a vise grip. "Tell me–" He jabbed the report into Ukiyo's chest, his hair still swaying in place with momentum, huffing each taut breath with his mouth open– "If I read all this, will I find anything significantly different from the report performed on our previous victim?"

Ukiyo remained frozen in place for a moment, cigarette still clamped in the hand lifted in surrender, then slowly smirked. "No. The only significant finding was the single usable fingerprint, and even that panned out to nothing." Hakkai dropped him and stormed a few steps away towards where Gojyo had stopped his rush to Hakkai's aid, damming up a wellspring of frustration with his lips pinned shut and his fists clamped at his sides. Ukiyo, meanwhile, clicked his tongue and rubbed his wrist. "Wow, you really were a Tokyo detective once, weren't you?"

Gojyo startled at this, whipping to look at Hakkai where he slouched, his eyes lowered in deep thought. "Wait, really? Tokyo?"

"Sure. I recognize your name, Choushi Hakkai." Ukiyo smirked and closed the distance between them, laying his arm over Hakkai's back again. “You were an up and coming detective, until that incident. You should know, better than anyone, just how these things go.” Hakkai made no move to push Ukiyo's roaming arm away this time, instead petrified in place, eyes wide, expression flat. Gojyo inhaled sharply, but Ukiyo leaned closer to Hakkai as if making their conversation more intimate, all but breathing into his ear. "Sometimes, crimes like this are just random, you know? Thrill-killers, the kinds who'll just pick up any old stray to take out whatever aggression they have, somewhere they don't think they'll be noticed, someone they don't think will be missed. Runaways, prostitutes, or people who look like that. You know the type."

"Hey!" Gojyo stormed a step forward and pushed a pile of papers to the ground, and Ukiyo gawked as the mess slid down like an avalanche into the junkyard. "It doesn't matter if they were runaways or whatever! If they're alive, they deserve to live! Only crazy killers think like that!"

Ukiyo blinked a few times, then smirked. "Isn't that the point? To get into their heads?" He patted Hakkai on the back, and Gojyo realized that Hakkai's expression hadn't changed. "Mr. Detective here, you'd know something about that, right? Or, maybe you really aren't a detective anymore, eh?"

Gojyo gawked at Hakkai, who took a breath, shuddered, and knelt down onto Ukiyo's floor. He scooped up the papers Gojyo had knocked over and set them onto another stack, then marched for the door. "If you have anything useful, please contact me." He hooked Gojyo by the elbow with force, and Gojyo hop-stepped to follow along.

"Hakkai, what the hell?" Hakkai didn't answer, instead merely taking a big step over the ignored mail slumped near the door and pushing it open.

"After you." He ushered Gojyo out and back down to the sidewalk, pulling out his cell phone as he did so. The sun was starting to set, and Hakkai squinted towards the west through the reflection on his glasses as he dialed and waited. "Sergeant? Ukiyo-hakase has nothing, and I have nothing." Gojyo forced himself to stand still as Hakkai talked. “Do you need me any further?" Gojyo heard a growled response, and Hakkai hung up. “Come with me. I'll make you dinner.”

“Yeah, you got it.” Gojyo stretched his mouth into an awkward smile, and though he extended a companionable arm, Hakkai didn't accept it and walked on. “Hey, listen, I know today's been rough, but...” He trailed off; Hakkai wasn't listening. Everything inside of him had gone cold.

* * *

Gojyo ushered Hakkai through his evening routine, the walk back to the market, even his trip through. He tried to be his usual charming self, present with a smile and wink for everyone and a clever quip for anyone they encountered. The cashier at the market handed him the change with a smile and a, “Have a nice evening, sirs!”

Gojyo too easily countered with: “It will be after seeing your pretty face,” and the cashier giggled and flapped a hand at him, a tacit, 'oh-you,' and waved them out.

Hakkai didn't say a word through any of it.

Gojyo carried Hakkai's tote bag up the steps as Hakkai moved through the motions like a slot car on a track. “Hey, uh, listen.” Gojyo huffed a little as he waited for Hakkai to open the door. “Today's been rough, but, uh, it's over, right? You're home, and everything's okay.” His appeal was tinged with despair, or perhaps desperation, as Hakkai opened the door, but Gojyo motioned for him to enter first. “See? Now you can just relax and go about your night like usual. Just like you said last night. You work, go to the market, then come home.” Hakkai dragged himself in, mouth held shut as if pinned, and Gojyo hurried past him to get his knives out and lay them out. “Just like last night, just like always, right?” He beamed, gesturing, as Hakkai lifted his face and stared at the arrangement. He slid the door shut behind him and lumbered across the room as if dragging weights on his ankles, and touched the handle of one of the knives. Gojyo watched expectantly, as Hakkai stilled there for a moment, deflating, and jumped when Hakkai pivoted around to him and stared him dead in the face.

“It wasn't always like this, Gojyo.” Gojyo's eyes widened, and Hakkai advanced, forcing Gojyo to retreat against the wall. “I was a detective. Ukiyo didn't lie about that.” He hung his head, but Gojyo didn't try to finagle his way out of where Hakkai pinned him. He instead steadied himself with his shoulders straight and his hips pressed against the counter.

“You were, huh? I should'a figured, with how smart you are and all.”

“Yes; everyone at the station knows.” Hakkai sucked air in through his nostrils, his fingers trembling on Gojyo's wrist. “I graduated with accolades and was quickly hired as a detective in Asakusa.” His expression curdled around the edges, as the scent of city streets, the hiss of bullet trains, women's voices beckoning him from under neon lights, all the familiar trappings of the city crept in the periphery of his memory. “The _pleasure center_  of Tokyo.”

Gojyo's eyes were wide, thoughts shooting back and forth behind his gaze like goldfish in a bowl, but he composed his words carefully. “I heard it was getting to be a nice neighborhood.”

“It's better than it was before, but gracious knows it hasn't completely shaken its reputation, especially not with tourists.” Hakkai laughed and scoffed at once, shaking his head. “But I didn't mind. I worked major crimes when they occurred and walked a beat when I didn't.” His focus tilted around the room and lingered on the picture frame at the shrine. “Kaname found work as a secretary. We shared a flat, just like this one.”

Gojyo's breathing quickened; Hakkai was so close to him, but there seemed to be a dark veil cast over his features. “I … I'm really sorry …”

“We were all the other had, you know. We were orphaned together, raised in foster care together, and we were as close as a brother and sister could be. Perhaps even closer.” Hakkai's hands shook again, and he released Gojyo's arm. “Perhaps that is why we were punished.”

"Punished?" Gojyo's eyebrows knit up, baring concern plain on his face. He pushed his hair back from his eyes and leaned into Hakkai. "What do you …"

"I was on duty one evening, walking my beat." Hakkai's voice cracked, but he composed himself with a slow breath, rooted his feet, and forced eye contact with Gojyo. "I got a call about a hostage situation, and since I had some prior experience with hostage situations, was told to hurry over. They had no time to find out who was being held hostage. Only that they needed someone to talk down a man holding a knife to a woman's throat."

Gojyo's chin dropped. "No way."

"Poor Kaname." Hakkai tried to suck in another breath, but it caught in his throat, and his voice warbled when he spoke again. "She was walking home from work. A bystander said that a tourist mistook her for a prostitute, and demanded she 'service' him there in the street like a – and these are his precise words – 'good little geisha.' When she resisted – the brave girl even hit him before she tried to run – he snatched her by the neck and put a knife to her chin. A nearby officer rushed to intervene, but the tourist wouldn't let her go. He said he'd kill 'the whore' if the officer took a single step closer, and demanded to be allowed to leave unscathed and take Kaname. Like some brutish conqueror." Hakkai made a strange noise between a cough and a laugh, his face falling. Gojyo patted his back.

"And … then they called you."

"I tried to talk him down." The words came back to him, as good as if he were standing in the street, staring down a wild-eyed man who looked too skinny to be so strong, his knobby fingers all wrapped around pretty Kaname's neck, her hair askew and mussed against the brick wall. They had been separated by ten meters of filthy sidewalk, and still he just couldn't reach her. "'Nobody cares about these worthless streetwalkers.' He dared me to shoot him, if her life was so important. He was talking madness." Kaname's breast heaved in Hakkai's memory, a trickle of blood running down her neck as she strained for air. The constriction matched Hakkai's own as he tried to choke the rest of the words out. Gojyo was watching him, jaw hung loose with morbid fascination, but he spoke with unusual calm.

"You couldn't convince him."

"No, of course not." Hakkai bit the inside of his cheek, and his face fell. He couldn't look at Gojyo. Not when he could still so perfectly envision the way Kaname had been looking at him. "I told him we'd release him if he would merely let Kaname go. I thought he was calming down, but I was wrong. I took a step too close, and he …"

The words didn't come. Hakkai couldn't force them from his tongue. Gojyo wouldn't make him, either. Both of Gojyo's hands were on Hakkai's back, his shoulders. His mind jumped between the very real man holding him together and the last memory he had of Kaname, the other half of his heart, his backbone, his rock. She had been smiling to see him approaching. Her blood was as red as cadmium lacquer. The madman, soaked in it, cackling. Everything was black. Everything was over. All his training, everything he knew, worthless.

"So I shot him."

Hakkai pushed Gojyo away and strode past him, only to shiver in the doorway. Gojyo stood in the midst of the apartment, staring at the wall. "Holy shit, you killed a guy?" Hakkai pivoted around to face him, the words crashing into him and weighing him back down, but Gojyo put his hands up. "I'm sorry, I mean–"

"He was as good as dead anyway." Hakkai scraped his bangs from his forehead and pushed them back. "He'd been a wanted man in Japan for a while for overstaying his visa. He vanished from a tour group, apparently entering a fugue state due to advanced syphilis. His gray matter had holes in it, and he'd been drunk to boot. With his lack of impulse control, he likely merely went after Kaname just for the thrill. However, I still fired the shot. Due to the circumstances, my chief was more harshly punished than I was. I should never have been called to the scene. My impartiality was ruined when I saw who it was at risk. I was found not responsible, but …" He sighed and finally dropped to let his hips rest against the counter. "I was ruined."

"I spent two months in an asylum after suffering a complete breakdown. I don't remember much of those days. I barely even remember who I was before it happened. When I was given control of my life back, I formally resigned in Asakusa and moved here because one of my teachers said a student of his had become chief here. He said Tono would be quieter, lively enough that I wouldn't get bored, but without nearly as high of a crime rate, so I could keep my stress low." He helplessly held his hands up. "I didn't want to live, but I was alive, so I had to do something with myself, and that sounded as good as anything. I just didn't want to handle the risk of another life-and-death situation, not when the last one ended so horribly. I would rather be bored in my dreadful little routine than risk breaking away from it for that sort of thrill."

"But are you happy now?" Gojyo set his hands on his hips, his eyebrows raised. "That's all in the past, right? Is the life you have now okay?"

"It isn't," Hakkai whispered. "I thought it might have been, but today, these past two days, they've showed me how wrong I was. It's not that I enjoy this investigation, but more and more, it's made me realize just how insignificant my every effort is." He put his face in his hands, dragged his fingertips down over his eyelids, and clawed past his jaw. "Everyone wants to believe in this silly kappa story, and even I'm starting to wonder if there's no better explanation for this. I simply don't know what to do, and this sensation, this not-knowing, and not even knowing what it is I don't know, it's ... it's suffocating. I can't go on every day living at the bare minimum, in the background of everyone else's lives, with the only interesting thing I do every day feeding the stray cat out back. I need something. I need a victory."

With that, Gojyo advanced on him, slinking a graceful step toward him. "Yeah, you do." He slid his palm up Hakkai's cheek, and Hakkai's heart jumped like a needle might skip on an old record. "And you shouldn't have to think of your life as boring, and I don't think what you're doing is wrong." He grinned toothily, and Hakkai's heartbeat stuttered and skipped, the rhythm of his world tossed topsy-turvy. "Life is for living, and whatever it is you got, you should enjoy it, yeah? Believe me, I'd know." His fingertips traced Hakkai's jawline up to where his hair hung, and he brushed Hakkai's hair back behind the arm of his glasses for him. "Or, hell, don't listen to the drifter, but it sucks that you feel that way." He stepped back all at once, chuckling nervously, and Hakkai realized in that instant just how close Gojyo had been and stuttered out a full exhale.

They spent the evening in tense quiet. Hakkai re-read through all of the reports, scouring for any single detail that might be of some value, and Gojyo observed him around the TV set to a very quiet volume. When the hour grew late, Gojyo turned the set off and went for his shoes, but Hakkai glanced up from his reading when he saw Gojyo pass him.

"You can stay, if you'd like."

Gojyo halted in putting on his shoes, though he stared at them. "If you don't mind.” He slid his feet out and smiled for Hakkai again. “How about you get ready for bed first? I think I know how to lay out a futon."

Hakkai returned from brushing his teeth to find Gojyo already kneeling in front of Kaname's shrine, his hands clasped. He joined Gojyo, to find Gojyo had left enough space for him, and got on his knees at his side to say his prayers to her memory. They watched the incense burn together, but as it died low, Hakkai remembered what Gojyo had said and, ever curious, pried a notch further. “You said you never had a chance to mourn your mother?”

“I was really little when she passed, so I didn't quite get what was happening.” Gojyo shifted, his shoulders hunching even though his ankles were still pinched in seiza. “I got bounced to my grandparents' house, but they didn't mourn her either. They hated her, they hated me for 'ruining her.' So, they did exactly what was legally required, and they bounced me out the door the second I was old enough to work. I was never all that bright, and I hadn't felt like working, and I didn't even have any good friends who would take me in.” He huffed a little laugh. “So, I tried to find my father and his family.”

This got Hakkai to raise an eyebrow; Goku had said there was no record of Gojyo's father. “You couldn't find him?”

Gojyo scoffed, and his face fell. “They didn't want me either.” He eased up to a stand and shuffled off. “I'm gonna wash my face.” Hakkai puzzled over those words, until a yawn claimed his mouth and convinced him to forget until the morning came.

They lay down together again, Gojyo letting Hakkai crawl in and get comfortable first before yanking off his socks and shirt and crawling in after him, and they lay in the dark calm of the cozy flat, with nothing but the sounds of their own breathing and the distant chitter of a cicada to disturb the silence. However, there was no rest to be disturbed. Hakkai lay awake, staring at Gojyo and squinting at his profile in the moonlight that effused through the curtain. Gojyo's eyes were open; the whites shone. He likely knew Hakkai was awake, and Hakkai knew Gojyo knew he was awake. He wasn't sure how long the two of them lay like that when Gojyo gave up their standoff and asked: "Can't sleep, can you?"

"I don't feel restful. I know I should, but I don't." Hakkai rubbed his fingers over his eyes to clear his vision, until he remembered he wasn't wearing his glasses. Gojyo rolled to face him, concern under his drowsy expression. "I can't stop thinking." Gojyo hummed inquisitively and scooted closer, then propped himself up on an elbow. The sheets slid off of him, revealing his lanky, long figure hewed with muscle, and Hakkai felt bereft, deprived of not noticing before just how very lovely Gojyo was in moonlight.

"Y'wanna get those thoughts out?"

"Only, I still feel the sensation that I'm lacking something. I'm missing something, and I don't know what it is."

Gojyo's mouth wrinkled, and he extended a hand to tousle Hakkai's hair. Hakkai allowed the gentle contact, his eyes closing, because he hadn't actually wanted someone to touch him since … since …

“Gojyo?”

“Mm?”

“You said, before, you mostly got taken home by women. And mostly only shared beds with women.”

“Mhm.” Gojyo was still playing with his hair.

“Yet you're terribly friendly with me.”

“Ah.” Gojyo chuckled, and combed his fingers through Hakkai's hair. “I said mostly women. I didn't say only women.”

“Ah.” Hakkai tilted his head back, but pushed his head into Gojyo's palm, reveling in the sensation. He lingered there a moment longer, the warmth of friendly human contact ebbing through him and washing back the strain of the day. A cicada cried in the distance. Silence settled, but for the rustle of Hakkai's hair as Gojyo ran his fingers through it. “Gojyo?”

“Yeah?”

“Hold me.”

Gojyo's breath caught, but he swallowed and spoke thickly. “Yeah.”

He scooted closer and slung a heavy arm over Hakkai's shoulder, the pretense of going to sleep sliding off with the sheets, and gently pushed Hakkai's chin into the crook where his neck met his shoulder. He ran his big hand down to the small of Hakkai's back, and Hakkai unconsciously pushed his hips into Gojyo's. He could feel something hard and blunt bumping his thigh, as Gojyo inhaled against Hakkai's hair, and he slid his hand down to brace Hakkai's thigh and grind against him.

Lust freewheeled through Hakkai, affection and desire bound up in the only word he could utter: “Gojyo.”

“Yeah, I know.” Gojyo captured the edge of Hakkai's ear and worried it between his teeth, then clumsily groped his way up to Hakkai's chest and slid his thumb out to trace his nipple. Hakkai shivered, feeling all too much like a virgin under Gojyo's hands. That wouldn't do.

“What can I do for you?” He groped out and found Gojyo's trunk, and ran his fingernails down his side. Hakkai wasn't some clean, pure thing to be ravished, he would give as good as he got. Gojyo groaned, and his ministrations became a little rougher. Hakkai bucked into the sensation, garnering an appreciative chuckle from Gojyo.

“Do to me what you want me to do for you.” Gojyo braced his knee against Hakkai's thigh and moved down to shiver his teeth down Hakkai's earlobe, then tilted his head down and kissed Hakkai's throat. Heat shot through Hakkai when he sucked and nibbled the skin, and he returned the favor by laying a smattering of kisses across Gojyo's brow and let his fingers find the cusp of Gojyo's nipple. He teased it until it came erect, then pressed the pebbled nub in and pinched. Gojyo bit down.

The noise Hakkai made was pure relief and ecstasy. This elicited a warm chuckle from Gojyo, the kind of noise that heated Hakkai's gut from the inside out like a hot sake. “You do like it a little rough, huh?” He shifted up on his arm, only to lean over Hakkai and bit down across his Adam's apple with zeal. Hakkai groaned his pleasure, his arousal jumping and spiking. His skin was too hot, too tight, as if he was drawing close around his core and ready to implode. He gave what he got – he dug his fingernails into Gojyo's back and dragged, already feeling weals rising in rails. Gojyo hissed, his back arching, and Hakkai felt Gojyo's erection rut against his belly.

He'd never been this close to someone. Love was something that only happened in fairy stories, and he hadn't believed in those since he was small and stupid and didn't know better. He simply hadn't had it. Not since her, and never like this. Every night was the same, by custom, by habit. There was no room for strangers sharing his futon and kissing his neck and grinding against his leg, and making him want all of those in return.

Perhaps he'd wanted more for longer than he'd realized.

Gojyo captured his hand, then brought it to his lips and kissed his wrist. “I'll show you what I want.” Then, he guided Hakkai's hand into his waistband and to his dick. Gojyo was as hot as he was, with a thin stream of slick precome running down the shaft. Hakkai ran his palm down the length of his erection, then traced Gojyo's taut ballsac. Then, he wrapped his hand around his dick. Gojyo grunted, but smiled, and he leaned into Hakkai again, worked one arm around his shoulders to bring them chest to chest, and slipped his other hand down between them to Hakkai's cock. His big fingers wrapped around and stroked, _hard_ , once, then started an easy, gentle rhythm. “Just try and keep up, yeah?”

Hakkai could do that. He curled his fingers around Gojyo's cock and flicked his wrist. Gojyo kissed his face and forehead, and Hakkai mouthed back as he moved, as they moved, as they moved together. Each rub, each stroke, each kiss brought them closer, until he could feel Gojyo's knuckles against his. Then, Gojyo snaked his fingers out and joined Hakkai in rubbing himself, and Hakkai soundlessly jawed unspeakable delight. He twined his fingers with Gojyo's around both of their dicks, and joined him in bringing both of them closer.

He was deaf and blinded to everything but the space between them, hot ragged breaths and the smack and huffs of enthusiastic kisses, the ridges and calluses of Gojyo's fingers and the velvety skin of Gojyo's dick, and above all, the glimmer of lust and adoration in Gojyo's eyes as he gazed at Hakkai when they weren't both blinded by pleasure. Gojyo tilted his head in and claimed his mouth, his tongue sweeping Hakkai's lower lip and teeth, then he raked his fingernails down Hakkai's back and Hakkai was coming, wet and slick and running all over his and Gojyo's hands. Gojyo groaned, but picked up the speed into an uneasy arrhythmia, and Hakkai insistently worked through his daze to join him.

“Yes, that's right,” he found himself whispering, “That's good, that's good, that's it!” Gojyo stiffened, and Hakkai felt Gojyo's cock jumping in his hand as he came. He hushed Gojyo and eased him through his orgasm, milking every last drop of spend from him and onto Hakkai's thigh. Gojyo's breathing was ragged and uneven, but he released Hakkai's dick and wiped his hand off on his own thigh, then slid his clean hand up into Hakkai's hair, effectively tipping his head back to let him dive in and kiss him deeply.

“You're so damn nice all the time,” he muttered, his lips temptingly close to Hakkai's ear. “Had no idea you could be sweet in the streets and amazing between the sheets.”

“Oh, Gojyo.” Hakkai kissed him, nipping his lower lip, and smiled against his cheek. “There are plenty of things you don't know yet.”

Gojyo chuckled and tangled his legs with Hakkai's. “Guess you could say the same about yourself.” He kissed him on the cheek. “If you wanna get up, say so, but I ain't gonna let you go until you make me.”

Hakkai knew in his core that he should go wash his hands and belly, he should comb his hair and clean off his glasses, but he didn't. Instead, he mumbled something that sounded enough like, “Don't let go,” tunneled his fingers into Gojyo's hair, and nuzzled his chin into Gojyo's shoulder. Gojyo worked the sheet up to their chests, then settled in to stroke Hakkai's hair and leave warm kisses on his face, his neck, everywhere he could reach without moving. Hakkai relaxed into his steady hold and blinked his way into dreamless, comfortable sleep with his mind and spirit clear.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Liner Notes:
> 
> Kansai-ben: Kansai is a region of Japan with a distinctive dialect and accent. Notably, the suffix “-san” is replaced with “-han,” hence “Glasses-han.” It is often derided as a “hick” accent, hence the trope of the “idiot from Osaka.” In the manga, Hazel's Southern drawl was communicated with a Kansai-ben accent.
> 
> 0316: Hazel's quote immediately following the code is from John 3:16, iconic to evangelists and Christians of many denominations.


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hakkai takes a bold stand to unveil the mysteries surrounding Joken-ji. Will Hakkai's victory be worth the risk?

**Part 3:**

He was warm and a little damp when he woke. Gojyo snored softly into his hair. For a long moment, Hakkai wasn't sure why he was awake, because sleeping like this was so impossibly nice he couldn't deserve it. Gojyo was still latched around him and holding tight, nuzzling his collarbone. The cicadas were quiet. However, there was a ringing somewhere close by.

Hakkai's phone was ringing. That was why he was awake. Hakkai groaned and refused to move, tightening his hold on Gojyo, but as the ringtone insisted ever louder, Gojyo grumbled and slid from Hakkai's grip, then felt past Hakkai's glasses for the phone. Hakkai watched, disappointment and anxiety in his chest, as Gojyo squinted at the number, then answered with a mumbled, “ _Moshi moshi_?”

Hakkai heard Genji's shout: “Don't you _moshi moshi_  me, asshole, put Hakkai on the phone!”

“ _Moshi moshi_  to you, too.” Gojyo tossed the phone to Hakkai and staggered off in the direction of the bathroom, grumbling, but Hakkai couldn't make out why as he scrambled to get his phone upright and to his ear.

“Good morning–”

“A third murder, Hakkai.” Genji's teeth were gritted, likely clamped around a cigarette. “They're going to be calling for our heads on pikes and a full-on fucking kappa hunt.”

Hakkai's stomach plummeted through all the happiness he had, and he slumped onto his knees as it sank in. “I'll be there soon.” He looked at his hands, then frowned to himself. “Sergeant, I want to speak to you. What we're doing isn't working. I want to speak with you, Sonoda-kun, and our eyewitness. I have an idea.”

“An idea.” Genji exhaled into his receiver. “Good. It's something.” Then he hung up, and Hakkai rose to his feet, putting steel in his legs and spine and bracing himself. Gojyo peered out of the bathroom, his face still damp.

“Bad news?”

“Yes.” Hakkai dropped his phone onto the futon and scraped his hair into place, then set his hands on his hips, inhaled, then exhaled. “But it's nothing that some good old-fashioned detective work won't solve. I'm going to need you. Are you ready?”

Gojyo smirked and slicked his hair back from his face. “For you? Always.”

* * *

Hakkai arrived at the crime scene, Gojyo in tow, and found a large crowd of townspeople at the taped-off gate. They were all decrying the police presence:

“There are too many people here!”

“You're being disrespectful! Did even one of you make an offering?”

“They'll drown you next if you're not careful!”

Hakkai forced his way through the throng, murmuring apologies all the way, and tugged Gojyo through behind him. Genji and Goku were standing up near the tape, but Hakkai quickly saw why – Goku's older sister, already dressed in her apron with her restaurant's logo, black hair bound in twin braids and disaffection plain in her sallow expression. Hakkai got the gist of what she was saying as he came into earshot:

“... He's my only brother.” She shook her head, her pigtails waving. “I don't know if this is a monster or not, but it's all young people getting drowned in the river. He's only twenty. Put him back on his beat.”

“Nee-san, please.” Goku's cheeks were pink with tremendous embarrassment. She scowled and reached across the police tape to tweak his ear.

“I'm just looking out for you! Someone has to!”

Hakkai heard the people around them all muttering concurrence, “We should protect the children.”

“Instill a curfew.”

“Maybe if we drained the river ... ”

Genji cleared his throat and fixed Goku's older sister with his trademark glower. “Sonoda-kun is invaluable to the investigation.”

Goku brightened, even as his sister drew her lips taut and her expression went black. “Y'mean it, Chief? I knew you liked me!”

“Shut up.” Genji clicked his tongue, but flipped his glare back to Goku's sister. “It's not like he's some school child and you can just pull him out of activities because you're scared he'll scrape his knee. You're working yourself up over nothing. He's a police officer. This is his job.”

“Yeah!” Goku cut in, pumping his fist. “I ain't afraid of no kappa! Even if it is a kappa, I'll make the damn thing go back to whatever river it came from!”

Hakkai chose this moment to clear his throat. “Well said.” He made his way through, bypassing Goku's sister without a second thought, and ducked under the tape, then motioned for Gojyo to follow. He looked between Genji and Goku, somehow reassured at seeing the pair of them weathering the storm, and smiled. “We won't be catching any killers if we don't examine our crime scene. Sonoda-kun, perhaps someone else could do crowd control?” He motioned for Goku to come with him, smiling all the while, and Goku gasped his elation, encouraged.

“You got it, senpai!” He chased Hakkai and Gojyo as they crossed temple grounds. Genji smirked to himself, then began to radio for backup.

Hakkai, meanwhile, looked at the crime scene for a moment. It was much the same as the two previous murders had been, a white sheet covering a body in the shallows with a few other junior detectives taking pictures. Hakkai pursed his lips in thought as Goku, at his side, rattled off the details: “Our victim was a girl this time, so I guess our killer's not picky. Her family reported her missing right before she was found. Nineteen years old, but still lived at home, and she worked a late shift last night. Her parents were worried because she usually does walk right past Joken-ji.”

"And here we are." Hakkai tapped his lower lip, then crossed into the riverbank, looking up and down the rocks. "I want to find where our killer came from, which direction. Gojyo." He glanced back. "Come and show me, as precisely as possible, where you were when you saw what you saw."

Gojyo led Hakkai down the incline, off the beaten path. He pointed out a few landmarks. "I remember being able to see that convenience store and the stoplight, and there's the donut shop. I usually sleep in the leaves up over here, that way I'm downwind when they start frying."

"A scent-based alarm. Clever." Hakkai rubbed his chin in thought and vaguely realized he had forgotten his gloves. No matter. "Do you recall which direction you were facing?"

Gojyo hummed, tilting his head around the grounds a few times, then tromped over some of the underbrush and towards a copse of trees. Then, he pointed. “I was here, the guy was over there.” Hakkai looked to the natural path he was indicating and ventured closer. He could see some signs that the fallen leaves were disturbed and pursed his lips.

“It seems there is a natural path here. Our killer must come from this direction. Let me check with Sonoda-kun.”

Hakkai pulled Goku from the crime scene and had Goku lead him down to the place where he found the footprints. Then he went for his notepad again, and Goku and Gojyo watched over his shoulder as he sketched out a quick map of the temple grounds, the stairs, the street, Gojyo's landmarks, the river and the path of broken rods, and finally the areas Gojyo had seen the suspect and the location of the footprints. He etched a path and dusted his eraser marks from the page. “I imagine we're going to see our suspect approaching from this general trajectory.” He traced his line. “Based on the evidence from both of the murders we've investigated, this is the path he takes.” Goku gawked.

“Whoa, that's super smart!” He jostled Gojyo's side, grinning. “How cool is he?”

“The absolute coolest,” Gojyo chuckled, his breath ruffling Hakkai's hair. “So, now you know that, what're you gonna do?”

“I'm going to set up a stakeout post somewhere I won't be seen from that direction.” Hakkai sketched out a few other landmarks on his makeshift map. “Goku-kun, kindly bring the sergeant down here. I want to keep my plan as quiet as possible.”

Goku blinked a few times, taking it in, then bolted up the hill whooping, “He called me by my name!”

Hakkai showed his map to Genji and explained simply: “Our killer strikes randomly, but the usable evidence from all three crime scenes indicate that he came from this direction to the temple grounds, northwest, possibly from the direction of the elementary school.”

“The local _breeders_  will be delighted to hear that.” Genji snatched out a cigarette and lit up. Gojyo quickly followed suit, and though Hakkai quietly tutted the pair of them, he circled the offertory box on his map.

“I wish to set up a stakeout point. I encourage you to have heavy police presence in the neighborhood north and west of the temple, but if our suspect does return here as he has for the past three nights, I wish to be here to confront him. The offertory box is in a blind spot for that approach, but I'll be able to see anyone coming from behind it.”

“Just you?”

“If there are too many, there's more risk of being made.” Hakkai rubbed his lower lip as he thought. “I would like to have you and Sonoda-kun on standby, waiting nearby and with some channel of instant communication open.” Goku made a little sound of disappointment, but Hakkai patted his arm. “Goku, if I get hurt, I'm trusting you to do what I can't.”

Goku sucked in air and beamed his enthusiasm like a solar flare. “Sure thing!” Hakkai granted him a placating smile, then glanced to Genji. Genji could see that Hakkai's smile was as genuine as one painted onto a kokeshi, ink that could slip away with the slightest ripple in shallow water.

"Sergeant, I realize the risk we are taking. I'm counting on our perpetrator killing someone else tonight. That's why I'm asking you to have heavy patrols around the area in which I suspect he is working. If we can catch him in the act, the better, but if he arrives here–"

"You're the detective, I'll take your word for it."

Hakkai pursed his lips in thought, then folded his map over. “I want to keep this closely-held. I would rather my stakeout plan not leave the four of us.” Genji made a strangled noise.

“Do you suspect someone in the department?”

“No, I have no suspects. However, I haven't ruled anyone out either. I know that I am not the murderer, and I trust the three of you.” He turned his gaze from eye to eye to eye, earnest Goku; stoic Genji; honest, loyal Gojyo. “The only thing I can do is to use what information I do have. I'm going to wait for our kappa here.”

Genji, his face pinched and his shoulders tense, crossed his arms, and thought for a long moment, before finally muttering, “I'll put my trust in you, as well.” He hoisted himself to a stand. “Sonoda, let's go. Choushi, do what you can. I'll be in touch.” He motioned to Goku, and Goku trundled up the hill after him. Hakkai remained in place a moment longer, staring at his hands and the crushed leaves under his feet, until Gojyo touched his shoulder.

“That was some fine detective work there, Officer.” He grinned, lascivious and sharp as if he'd been flirting, but his words cut more than anything.

“I'm not a detective.”

“You really could'a fooled me.” Gojyo rose and held a hand out to Hakkai, and Hakkai accepted and tugged himself up. “Well, let's see what we can do, right?”

“Right.” Hakkai dusted the dirt off on his pants, and faced the town. “Shall we?”

* * *

Hakkai spent the day as he had the past two – reviewing all the information collected from the crime scene, reviewing the autopsy report faxed from Dr. Ukiyo's office, and making notes and charts of all the information he had. It was, even fully extrapolated, piteous little, but that told him a few things, if nothing else. Whoever it was knew how to cover their tracks. They wanted to be able to vanish, as invisible as their mythical kappa. There were plenty of sociopaths who would likely fit the bill, but even then, someone so good at hiding their tracks wouldn't make themselves obvious.

There was no evidence to go on. Hakkai wanted something solid. He wanted to see their killer. Much like everyone else who visited the river in hopes of seeing a kappa, of capturing a glimpse of the legend, he wanted proof of the untenable. He would lay out his lure and wait.

Gojyo tagged along, and Hakkai didn't have to ask him. The pair of them went in with the police combing the crime scene, Hakkai through the front and Gojyo breaking away and sneaking up the side through the woods. Hakkai participated from the sidelines, observing as much as possible, but keeping an eye open for Gojyo. He didn't catch much more than a glimpse of red hair through the tree cover. When the others left for the night, Hakkai and Gojyo met by the offertory box and set up. Hakkai radioed Genji and Goku on his phone to ensure their position (in a nondescript van less than half a kilometer from the temple), and left the channel in walkie-talkie mode: one touch, and they'd be able to alert them of anything that came to pass. Hakkai noticed that Gojyo had a plastic bag in hand, which Gojyo promptly opened to display a few bottled sodas and juices, as well as granola bars.

“I figured we'd be here a while, so I scrounged some funds and got us some snacks.”

“Scrounged,” Hakkai repeated, amused. “Do you mean panhandled, by chance?”

Gojyo chuckled and patted the offertory box. “Hey, if folks got a yen for the kappa, they might as well share with me.” He settled in as Hakkai accepted and opened a bottle of juice, stretching his long legs in the gap between the offertory box and the wooden gate, hyperextending his arms over his head, and sinking in with a sigh. Night fell softly, the sun vanishing and the light that filtered in through the leaves filling with shadow. Hakkai closed his eyes to listen for the cicadas crying in the distance, and for footsteps. After a minute or so of quiet, Gojyo nudged his leg with his hand. “Do we have to be quiet all night? Or can we talk?”

“We can talk, as long as we keep our voices quiet.” He paused to smile at Gojyo. “Honestly, I'd prefer if you kept me talking, lest I fall asleep.”

“Good.” Gojyo twisted around to face him. “Uh, so, I guess …” Hakkai spotted Gojyo's hand at his side tracing little shapes in the dust next to the box – nerves. “After this is all done, and you catch the guy, I'm gonna be out on the street again?”

Hakkai felt something cold lying under Gojyo's words, seeping his anxiety into his usually warm tones. “I suppose, looking at it from that perspective, you would rather the case remain open a while longer in hopes of maintaining a roof over your head and a hot meal in your stomach.” He turned to face Gojyo, eyebrow raised. “Is that so?”

Gojyo smirked, his eyelids heavy over his lowered gaze. “Yeah, that's nice and all. But I do okay on the street. I get by. It's just … well, it's been nice getting to know you.” He batted his lashes up and gave Hakkai a significant look, pinning him to the wall of the box for a second with those sharp eyes alone, before lowering his face again. “You remember how we met?”

Hakkai, still a bit winded from the weight in Gojyo's expression, had to tap his lower lip and search his memory. “Oh, my … Yes, I believe so. I was on my beat, yes?”

“You walk like ten circles past me every day, y'know.” Gojyo drummed his fingers on the lacquered edge of the box for a moment, then dug a cigarette out of his pocket and lit up. “But I guess I'd only seen you around for a week or so and hadn't really made a point of talking to you. But I was minding my own business, taking donations … ”

“And two of the local housewives cornered you on the stair.” Hakkai had to giggle. “Harassing you for talking to their children– ”

“ – I swear, I was only asking if they'd share their comic books when they were done.”

“ – As you were telling them, and they called you out as a roustabout for shacking up with tourist girls and flirting with the local high-schoolers.”

“Guilty, but ain't none of that illegal.” Gojyo crossed his arms, and Hakkai giggled his amusement. “But up you come, Mr. Good Cop, Officer Choushi, all slick and smooth with your pressed shirt and your clean gloves and pants …” His chin sank down past his shoulders, and Hakkai realized that even in the twilight, he was flushed ruddy. “And you told 'em off.”

“You had just as much right to be there as anyone else.”

“No, but you even defended me!” Gojyo threw his hands out with a cackle. Hakkai shushed him, and he lowered his voice when he spoke again. “I can't even remember all of it. You said something like, they were harassing me in my own home, and when they wailed that I didn't have a home and I was on a public street and so were they, you said that if the temple tolerated me there, then they had indirectly taken me into residence.” He guffawed again, a hand cupped over his mouth. “You even offered to – shit, what was it? – go down to Land Records or some shit and check the easements or whatever to prove I was on temple grounds, and holy shit, Hakkai, I ain't ever _belonged_  anywhere, but there you are, defending my right to be _somewhere_.” He huffed a mouthful of smoke out all at once. “It didn't hurt that you were better-looking than any of those damned empty-headed tourist gals, and then it turns out you're smart and funny and just … ”

“Gojyo, please.” Hakkai rubbed Gojyo's knee. “I'm not nearly so wonderful.”

Gojyo scoffed and pulled his knees in. “Yeah, and if this all goes according to plan, you won't need me after tomorrow. Back to 'Sasaki-san,' and maybe hello and goodbye and nothing else.” That weighty look hit Hakkai again before Gojyo tore his arms away, closed his arms around his legs, and spit his cigarette at the wall of the shed they were facing. “I know you're just keeping an eye on me. That's your job. Mr. Good Cop.” The words were spit with vehemence rather than reverence this time. “It's selfish, but I wish this case would never end.”

“Gojyo,” Hakkai repeated, the syllables thick in his mouth. “I think we've shared too much to go back to that.” He sat forward and leaned down to look into Gojyo's eyes, smiling. “And besides, even if there is an arrest, I'll have to make sure my star witness doesn't vanish for the duration of the trial, and if the suspect appeals, then we'll need you for that too.” He tipped Gojyo's chin up, then ran his fingers through his hair. “Besides all that, it really is easier for me to cook for two than for one, and your company is dearly welcome. You do belong here. I am only sorry I did not offer you such space before.” He shifted, sitting closer, and Gojyo petulantly leaned against him with a sigh. Hakkai carefully inched his palm up Gojyo's back. “Did you think, after I let you so close, you had an easy way out?”

Gojyo stilled against him, his whole chest taut, and for a moment, Hakkai wondered if he had gone too far, assumed too much, but before he could ask, there was a splash behind them. The both of them twisted around and peered over the edge, and saw a shadow moving up the river. It loped from the pool, crouched to take something from the river, then trudged through the shallows with a short, narrow rod at its side. It tilted its head around, this way and that: looking for something, or scenting like a dog. Hakkai's breath caught, and he quickly vaulted the offertory box and darted close, his hand moving to his hip –

And what a night to forget his pistol.

“Halt! Drop your weapon!” he shouted and grabbed his flashlight instead. It wasn't a gun, but it was heavy, and hopefully that would be enough. The figure in the water was massive, tall and broad, and dripping. It turned towards him, yellow eyes gleaming in the moonlight, and Hakkai realized, with a spark of horror, he'd come face to face with a youkai. He gritted his teeth as his eyes adjusted, and took it in.

It was shaped like a man, twice as big as the meter-high kappas from the storybooks, with scales etched in over greenish skin, dark hair smashed against its forehead and sharp teeth. It wore a canvas toga, sopping wet with river water puddling on the rocks and draining into the shallows. He snarled down at Hakkai, but pointed a dripping finger, and his voice boomed forth: “YOU. YOU'RE THE ONE DISTURBING MY WATERS?”

“Am I disrupting your hunt?” Hakkai spat back, but as he lunged forward, something blocked him: Gojyo, with his arms outspread.

“Don't hurt him!” The kappa, who'd rushed at Hakkai, claws extended, froze at the sight of Gojyo.

“Oh, hell.” When not screaming, the kappa's voice didn't have the same rasp, and he very nearly sounded like a normal human. Then, the kappa laughed, and Hakkai's hands dropped to his sides, leaving him disarmed. “Gojyo, is that really you?”

Hakkai's knees locked, and he fumbled his fingers around the shaft of the flashlight to turn it on, only to find that the kappa's face, despite the sharp teeth and scales that covered his cheeks, was the face of a man. He squinted into the light as Hakkai gawked at him. “You two know each other?”

The kappa, still chuckling and blinking back stars, swaggered from the water and slung his arm over Gojyo's shoulder. “Didn't Gojyo here tell you he had a big brother?” It was then that Hakkai noticed that what he'd seen the kappa pick up was a cucumber. Hakkai, stunned to stupidity, could only shake his head, his jaw slack, as everything he knew was overturned once again by the apparent truth: Kappas were real. And Gojyo was related to one.

“Half-brother.” Gojyo removed the kappa's arm from his shoulder, then whirled on him. “Hey, asshole, what the fuck? Have you been causin' trouble around the pond?”

“Hell no, why would I do that?” The kappa put its – his, Hakkai acknowledged – hands on his hips and cocked his brow. “No, see, I've been smelling something funny from my source river and came to check it out.”

“That would be the bodies.” It tumbled from Hakkai's mouth before his mind could stop it, and the kappa spun on him again.

“Bodies?”

“There's been three killed here the last three nights, Nii-san.” Gojyo crossed his arms, brow furrowed. “I wanted to be sure it wasn't you.”

“No way! I ain't like Dad, I wouldn't –”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Hakkai put both hands up. “Gojyo, I am missing a significant amount of context. Will one of you kindly explain?”

His demand came out exactly as hard as he meant it to be, the quaver thankfully remaining in his throat, and both Gojyo and the kappa fell quiet. They traded quizzical expressions before the kappa chuckled and nudged Gojyo a step forward. “Go on, he's your friend.”

“Right. Well.” Gojyo sighed and took a step back towards Hakkai. Hakkai involuntarily stumbled a step back, and Gojyo reached for him, then dropped his hand. “Look, most of what I told you about myself? Completely true. I just left out the details, 'cause I know you don't believe in kappas.” He glanced back at Jien, then faced Hakkai and gestured. “This is my older half-brother, like I said. He just goes by Jien, or Sarugaishi Jien.”

“It's my source river,” Jien added, slicking some of his sloppy hair from his face and grinning at Hakkai with all of his pointed teeth. “I spend most of my time there, but I visit Kappabuchi sometimes.”

“So, you don't all live here?” Hakkai wondered if he should take notes to update the _Tono Monogatari_. Jien chuckled again, and it rang closer in his mind that the brothers' mannerisms were weirdly similar. The same smile, playing with the front of their hair, the same laugh. Too similar for coincidence or play-acting. They weren't tricking him.

“Kappabuchi and Haseki are nice, but after that Yanagita guy started telling stories about us, there were just way too many humans around most of the time. It's more like, you come here if you want an easy meal or if you want to play a prank, but even then, it's best to avoid humans in large numbers.”

Gojyo scoffed under his breath at this and crossed his arms. “Easier to pick off pretty girls when they're alone, ain't it?”

“Hey!” Jien whipped his head around and glowered at Gojyo. “Not all of us are like that. I know I apologized for Dad a billion times, don't go dredging it up–”

“Why not? He's probably figured it out.” Gojyo turned back to Hakkai, smiled to look at him, but quickly sinking to a serious expression. “My mom was walking alone near the shores of Miyagi one February night when some asshole kappa crept out and grabbed her by the ankle, gave her one _hell_  of a Valentine's Day present, and nine months later, out comes me.”

Hakkai flinched and covered his mouth. Jien, for his part, looked ashamed. Gojyo clicked his tongue and stuffed his hands in his pockets again. “Yeah. So, there's that. My grandparents were humiliated, but she insisted over and over again, it was a kappa, it was a kappa, to the point where they had her committed to an asylum. She drowned herself in a toilet, they tell me.” Gojyo chuckled again and scuffed his hand across his chin, his eyes low. “After that, it's like I said. They took me in, they kicked me out as soon as I was working age …”

Jien picked up where Gojyo trailed off: “But he and I had been talking here and there. We can sense out our own, and I figured out what happened. I took him back to the river with me–”

“Hang on.” Gojyo held his hand up, then knelt and rolled his pants up. He took a few steps into the river, and Hakkai gasped as all of his skin that touched the water was covered in scales. “Yeah, see, I'd started noticing this whenever I went in river water. So, that's what he means by that.”

Hakkai couldn't say a word. This was all so much he'd thought impossible proven too quickly, and yet Gojyo was still so human.

“I could live in water, if I wanted. I even get gills.” Gojyo twisted his fists in his back pockets. “But his mom, well, she found out what good ol' Dad did, and she wasn't happy to see me. I tried to be a good kappa, but it was never good enough for her. Sharpened up my manners, tried to learn, and …” He rubbed his hand down the thin scars on his cheek. “Eventually I figured I couldn't live there, either. So, I got out of the water and tried to make it on my own.”

“Yeah, 'cept I wouldn't just let him.” Jien slapped his hand on Gojyo's shoulder again. “I figured I'd find an empty river he could set up in. He doesn't like coming up to Haseki if he can avoid it since my mom comes up here sometimes, too, so--”

“Hey, you told me to tell him!” Gojyo shoved Jien's hand off, then pivoted back to Hakkai. “I know I'll never be a kappa, just a stray kappa-dog looking for a post, but I've been doing alright. Just, this is my brother's water, so I do what I can to take care of it.”

Hakkai closed his eyes, trying to slide this information into the gaps, the things he knew with the things he didn't know. It wasn't meshing, not yet, and he slid a step back towards the offertory box. “Then ... if that's so ... Perhaps I have another witness to speak to.” He put his head in his hands and forced himself to remember: he was a detective, he was supposed to investigate the murders, no matter how interesting the person of interest. “Sarugaishi-san –”

“Jien's fine, really.”

“Jien-san, you said you were investigating something afoul in your waters.”

“Yeah.” Jien unfolded his arms and set his hands on his hips. Gojyo moved closer to listen, and Jien threw him a questioning look before returning to make eye contact with Hakkai. “Yeah, I smelled something off. I'm a river guardian, after all, so I kind of figured someone was corrupting the waters and came to look into it.”

“I see.” Hakkai dug out his notebook, tilted it towards the moon, and leaned into the moonlight to see his own handwriting. “And, did you have anyone you might suspect of this act?”

“I'd caught a scent of someone with bad intentions, but everything's really muddled. There's just too many people here on a day-to-day basis.” Jien sniffed and crossed his arms, then twisted his neck to and fro. “I thought I'd hang around and wait for the scent to get stronger, but all I can smell right now is soap and food scents, likely off of the two of you.” He huffed another frustrated sigh, then looked to Gojyo. “I'm still glad I got to see you. It's been too long; it must be rough on your own.”

Gojyo sniffed but shuffled his feet. “I get by.” Hakkai felt Gojyo's gaze touch him again, but it quickly withdrew. Jien merely chuckled.

“Y'know, I haven't seen my mom in a while. The water should be safe. You can come back; I'll watch your ass, y'know. Someone's got to.”

Hakkai was about to protest that he could do it, that he wouldn't mind, that Gojyo was welcome with him, but all that came out was a wretched gasp at an impact to his gut, and a sharp pain that erupted through him as a new voice cut through the scene:

“I honestly think someone should have been watching Officer Do-right here.”

Thoughts came too quickly, electric sparks of pain and anger snapping through him, but it took immeasurably long for Hakkai to realize that someone had stuck a knife into his stomach. The flashlight tumbled from his hand and his glasses from his face as he grasped at the knife handle, and he dropped to his knees as Dr. Ukiyo slunk past him. His entire mind and everything he knew were smothered by searing agony, but somewhere in his memory, it registered that Ukiyo was still wearing his labcoat – knee-length, just as Gojyo had described. Gojyo's jaw hung open, until he gritted his teeth with rage and determination.

“Hakkai!” Gojyo tried to jog towards him, but Jien held him back.

“That smell,” he growled. “You smell foul!”

“Huh.” Ukiyo paused and deliberately lifted an arm to sniff himself. “Dunno, I may have forgotten to bathe for a week, but at least I don't smell like, oh, let's see, old fish, street grime, and loneliness.” He jerked his chin towards Hakkai, then tipped his smirk, made ever more sinister by the moonlight, back to the brothers. “Meanwhile, will you look at that, the legends are true! There really are kappas at Joken-ji!” He cackled and clapped his hands together, then bowed at the waist towards Jien. “You're welcome for the meal!”

Jien choked on his words, but his spine remained rigid. Ukiyo clicked his tongue and tutted him. “What, no bow in return? Isn't that the story, you bow and the water tips out of the dish on your head and you start drying up?” Ukiyo mock-pouted. “No manners? Tsk, tsk, I wonder how many of the legends are true.” He started numbering them off on his fingers: “Kappas are meant to be extraordinarily well-mannered, polite, occasionally prone to drowning and eating children, talented at medicine – ah, which reminds me. You may want to help your master here, police dog.” His disappointment vanished in an instant, his smirk blatantly malicious as he looked at Gojyo. Gojyo tried to run towards Hakkai again, but Jien hooked him by the arm.

“No, you don't know what he's got up his sleeve!”

“You certainly don't.” Ukiyo grinned, then tilted his head back around towards Hakkai. “And nor did he, really. He walked in unprepared.” He clicked his tongue and shook his head “What a terrible detective you are, not even bothering to bring your gun. I was merciful, using weapons. You'll find that knife a faster death than I granted any of the others.” He then turned back around to face the brothers. “I can make it worse, of course, and the longer you dawdle, the worse his condition gets.”

Hakkai, still straining through the pain, forced himself to his knees to keep the wound away from the ground. “Wh … why?”

“Why?” Ukiyo spun around again, kicking up dust in his eagerness, and grinned down at Hakkai. “Because I was bored. I've lived in Tono my entire dull little life, but couldn't find work that interested me here. Tono is a boring town where nothing ever changes, and all the idiots here suckle so deep on the tit of history, tradition, and fairy tale, that nobody grows up to see the world as it is! I feel like the lone adult in a room of children.” He laughed into his hand as Hakkai struggled to stare him down. “Even you, you used to be interesting, didn't you, Detective Choushi? You got to kill someone and nobody even looked at you twice. Me, I have to sneak around to shake things up!”

“Shake things up?” Gojyo clenched his fists so hard they quaked at his sides. “You did all this because you were bored?!”

Ukiyo laughed again, a rancid “ha” that rolled towards Gojyo like miasma. “Bored and curious.” He smirked at Jien. “I want to know so much. I wanted to know what it was like to kill someone, but then I needed to clean it up, and you know, those sweet little fairy tales made for an excellent cover. Besides, I thought, if there really are kappas in the river, won't they show up if I disturb it? And look! Here you are!” He clapped his hands together, cackling. “Finally, something interesting! I'd thought this night would be another waste with all those police cars keeping me from finding waste-of-air number four to dispose of. Here I've got my pick of the crop!” He clasped his hands and arched his back towards them. “I've never dissected a kappa or a half-kappa before.” Hakkai tried to crawl a step forward.

“G-gojyo,” he rasped. His every breath came shorter and shorter, and his voice dwindled. “Run …”

Ukiyo spun around and kicked Hakkai in the ribs. “Shut up, or I'll put something in your mouth that'll make you shut up.” He sneered down at him. “You became a detective because you were curious, too, not about the world, but about people. You wanted to know and to be able to know, isn't that right?”

Hakkai strained for speech, but it wouldn't come. Ukiyo turned back around, all business. “I'll give one of you a chance to help him out of this, and I'll take the other for studies. I'll even let the two of you pick which one I take.”

Gojyo didn't hesitate to step forward. “Take me. Jien, help Hakkai.” Hakkai tried to crawl another step, but the pain was only worsening by the second. Gojyo looked past Ukiyo and pinned Hakkai in place with the determination in his expression. Hakkai stilled, and Jien bolted past Ukiyo and knelt down next to him.

“Don't move. Don't speak.” He carefully rolled Hakkai on his back and tore Hakkai's shirt off to see the wound. Hakkai couldn't see it, only feel it; it felt terrible, and from Jien's expression, it looked worse. “It's like the creep said, I know a little medicine; I'll keep you alive 'til someone comes to help you.” Jien reached into a pouch hidden under his toga and grabbed out a few long leaves and some sort of powder in a leather satchel. Hakkai, however, couldn't hear him, couldn't tear his eyes away from Gojyo as he stood, steadfast, and waited as Ukiyo circled around him, examining his lithe form.

“My, my, you are quite a specimen. Handsome, too. I didn't realize how attractive you were until this very moment. As a study, of course.” He rubbed his chin as he circled Gojyo, and ran a grimy hand down the curve of his spine, then drew another short knife out of his lab coat. Hakkai groaned when Jien yanked the knife out, and Hakkai saw Gojyo flinch for a moment, then relax again. He was mouthing something, something Ukiyo couldn't hear, something Hakkai couldn't make out, what was it?

Jien was talking as he worked, senseless nothings. “There, now, it's closing up. You're going to be okay, we just need to get you somewhere safe.”

Hakkai knew he was right because words were coming again. “G-gojyo ...” He tried to reach for him, but he was too far away, out of his grasp, and Ukiyo had another knife, and he was so _close_. Gojyo, observing, looked at them as if Ukiyo wasn't there, and as Hakkai focused his vision, he could make out the words Gojyo wasn't saying:

" _Believe me. Believe in me._ " Then, he spoke aloud: "Jien, is he gonna survive?"

"Yeah," Jien answered, and Gojyo nodded a few times, then hung his head.

“Yeah? Well. Guess I gotta survive, too.” And with that, he ducked and tackled Ukiyo, shoulder-checking his chest and knocking him into the river. Hakkai gasped as Gojyo's damp skin erupted with scales, and his fingernails suddenly appeared far too sharp. Ukiyo struggled and swiped at Gojyo with the knife, but Gojyo pinned his arm against a rock. River water splashed his face, and his sharp cheekbones, highlighted in the flashlight, were scaled and jade-green, and his eyes gleamed, as red as lacquered cedar. Ukiyo struggled and swore, and Gojyo tossed his hair back again to keep it from his face. “Hakkai, call for help! Jien!”

Jien raced to his feet and dashed over to help Gojyo in pinning Ukiyo down, but Ukiyo reared up and kicked him in the chin the moment he got into range. Hakkai, however, strained to crawl to his cell phone, blinded without his glasses, but he managed to swat it and rasped, “Genji! Goku! Hurry!”

“CALL AN AMBULANCE!” Gojyo sound like he was being rent apart, and Hakkai twisted back up. Even without his glasses, he could see in flashes from the dropped flashlight that Ukiyo had twisted out from under Gojyo and had seized him by the hair. He swung a fist down and struck Jien between his legs. Jien grunted, but lashed back harder, swinging a tight fist, which Ukiyo dodged, dragging Gojyo with them. Gojyo screamed, his voice crackling from strain, and tried to stomp on Ukiyo's feet, over and over, staggering as far as he could towards the river. Jien, too, kept pitching blows, and though Ukiyo was dodging each strike, he was wading deeper and deeper in, the river soaking his pant legs to his knees. Hakkai tried to move closer, but pain shot through him again, and Gojyo, flinching through another yank to his scalp, waved a hand at Hakkai. “I got this! Leave it to me!”

And Hakkai believed him. He sank onto his hands, watching the struggle, until Genji and Goku ran up alongside him. Goku gasped and dropped down next to Hakkai. “Holy crap, what happened?!” Genji, however, took in the fight in the river, his cigarette falling from his mouth, and said the only thing he really could:

“What the fuck?”

Gojyo groaned relief. “Backup, finally!” He headbutted Ukiyo through the hold in his hair, striking him in the chest, then struck at his armpit to get his head loose. Jien took advantage of Ukiyo's shock to seize him by the neck and lift him off the ground. Then, he put on the big scary kappa voice right in Ukiyo's ear.

“HUMAN LAW OR KAPPA LAW. YOU CHOOSE.”

Genji took a few steps forward, recovering as quickly as he could into his scowl. “You wait just a fucking second, what the fuck –” He turned his gaze between Gojyo, still scaled, his eyes still red, and Jien, his face turning purple. “This has to be a fucking joke! Someone better rip off the costume and give me the real story, or–”

“You may wish to believe it.” Hakkai crept a hand up onto Goku's shoulder, and Goku helped him to a stand so he could face the river. Ukiyo was twitching and twisting in Jien's hold, still smirking at the police.

“Sure. Nobody else will.”

Hakkai, sure and confident, merely gestured at Ukiyo. "Match his footprints and fingerprints against the crime scene and our victims. He confessed to the crimes."

Ukiyo, still chuckled, tipped his restrained hand towards himself. "Why, Sergeant, would you take the word of a known killer over that of a renowned scientist?"

Genji raised an eyebrow. "Considering you match our eyewitness' description, my answer may shock you." He pointed two fingers at Gojyo. "Loser." Then he glanced to Jien and added, warily, "Kappa. Let him down easy. I'm taking him into custody. Sonoda, pass Hakkai onto me and make the arrest."

Goku worked Hakkai's arm onto Genji's shoulder, patting his back as if to make sure he was secure, then took out his handcuffs. Goku scowled as he approached, staring Ukiyo down. Hakkai felt himself shivering – either trembling from the chill setting in after the blood loss or fear. Goku was so young. Too young. He'd never made a serious arrest before.

Gojyo and Jien traded a nod for a grunt, and Jien lowered Ukiyo to the ground. The moment his feet touched the rocks, he launched a roundhouse kick towards Goku. Goku yelped as Ukiyo's foot caught his chin and sent him tumbling back, and in that instant, Ukiyo broke his arm loose of Jien's grip.

He was digging back into his jacket. Hakkai had no time to think. Only reflex. Only instinct.

He snatched Genji's gun where it hung in its holster, drew and aimed instinctively at the white flashing in the night, and fired. Ukiyo jerked and went still when the shot struck his shoulder, and Gojyo took the chance and wrapped him in a bear hug. He threw a roguish grin at Hakkai, then plunged headlong into the river with Ukiyo pinned against him.

They vanished into the dark current. Gojyo wasn't surfacing. He was gone.

Jien gaped after his brother the same as the officers before finally shaking his head. "Oh, man." He trudged a few damp steps towards them, started to extend a hand towards Hakkai, then dropped it. "Look, I'll do you guys a favor if you do me a favor: tell any other psychopath who might wanna try it not to mess with our river!" With that, Jien dived into the water and vanished. Hakkai realized he was reaching after Gojyo. The gun had tumbled from his hand, and his mouth was moving.

"Don't go." His eyelids were too heavy, the pain too much. His shirt and trousers were soaked through, and as Goku got to his feet and faced him, Hakkai gasped. "Gojyo … where will you … ?"

Exhausted in mind, body, and soul, he passed out.

* * *

When he next woke, it was to a boring white wall and sterile-smelling sheets. Hakkai wondered if he'd dreamed it all through a haze of delirium induced by the sedatives they'd poured down his throat at the asylum. Surely, he was crazy enough to still belong there if anything he could last remember was even remotely true.

Genji's voice at the door, indistinct yet certainly his, reassured him quickly that it had been real. Real, and yet even more confusing for being so. Goku was napping in the chair next to his bed with an ugly little pot of water lilies on his lap, and when he tried to sit up, something yanked the skin of his stomach. He bit back a whimper as he got himself upright and yanked up the hospital-issue nightgown. The knife wound he'd taken from Ukiyo had become a jagged rip in his skin held shut with staples, still inflamed and swollen. He hadn't been unconscious long. The door shut, and Genji approached his bed. He was still wearing his police uniform, but not the Ike jacket. Hakkai faintly remembered Genji being the last one to hold him, and he quickly hung his head.

"My deepest apologies for–"

"Shut up. Right now."

"– your jacket. If memory serves, peroxide works like magic on bloodstains." He managed a weak smile at Genji, and Genji's nostrils flared.

"You glorious idiot. So you haven't completely lost your mind." He sat on the mattress, facing away from Hakkai. His hand drifted towards his pocket, then clenched at his side. "So, it's been three days. Two mornings ago, the body of one Doctor Ukiyo Kenichi was discovered on the shores of the Sarugaishi river, downstream from Haseki. He had drowned, albeit with a bullet wound in the upper right of his chest." Hakkai's chest clenched, and he drew his hands into tight fists.

"So …"

"Miraculously," Genji continued, sharply, "His hands were in good enough condition to pull prints from, as if some idiot-savant who'd listened to two solid days of forensic jargon got him out of the water before the skin could swell in order to corroborate my account of the event.” Hakkai's entire body seized up at the mention of Gojyo, anticipating a word more. Where was he? Was he alive? Genji furrowed his brow, and Hakkai's anticipation deflated as Genji fed Hakkai the rest of the cover: “You were on a stakeout. Ukiyo appeared. You two struggled, he stabbed you. You called for help, he refused to surrender, I shot him – my gun, my bullet – he passed out from the pain and was carried off by the current before we could rescue him. We were too busy trying to rescue you." Genji glanced over his shoulder at Hakkai, and lowered his voice. "Moving around as much as you did ripped up whatever the big guy did to heal you. Your gut's still a mess, but you'll survive."

Hakkai took it in, then sucked in a breath. No word meant there was no word to be had, and Gojyo was likely in the current, leaving him alone in the lurch. Worse, Genji had left out the most salient part of the truth. Air ached in his chest, as if his very lungs were willing him to simply implode. "Sergeant ... You shouldn't …"

"Don't make me repeat myself. Shut up. Nobody's covering for you." Goku had opened his eyes and blinked back drowsiness as Genji turned to him. "Goku, tell him about the autopsy."

"H-huh – Senpai, you're awake!" Goku grinned and thrust the pot – which Hakkai faintly realized was, in fact, a coffee-grounds can with the label partially torn off – towards him. "These're for you! Someone put 'em on your desk with a tag with your name on it! Actually, a lot of folks left you presents after they heard what you did."

Hakkai caught the pot, water sloshing onto his lap, but Genji stood and crossed his arms. "Goku."

"Oh, right! Uh, the bullet wound didn't kill him, so the coroner said. It wouldn't've, either. So, Genji did right in trying to use his gun as a deterrent, and–"

"We all know that isn't what happened." Hakkai looked down into the bowl, the water trembling around the white blossoms. "I should be punished for all of that."

“But Hakkai, you stopped him!” Goku bounced his fists on his thighs. “You staked him out, you– ”

“I hardly did anything, Goku.” Hakkai hung his head. “I got stabbed and became reckless with the suspect. I feel like I've rather lost my touch, sad to say.”

Genji huffed and rolled his eyes. “Don't make me repeat myself.” He rose, twisting around, and set his hands on his hips as he glowered down at Hakkai. “Shut up.” He tipped his gaze down at Hakkai, looking down his nose. “You investigated it by the book. You kept your valuable assets close. Your stakeout caught the killer. You, despite my report, fired the shot that allowed the suspect to be brought in at all. This is your win.”

“It isn't, I'm afraid.” Hakkai slumped his shoulders and stared down into the dish again. His back, his stomach, his chest, all ached, and the dainty white flowers, floating carefree in the water, seemed to mock him. “I feel as though I lost more than I had to start.”

“It's just 'cause it's the end of the investigation.” Goku hopped to a stand, but patted Hakkai's hand. “Soon, there'll be something new.”

Hakkai couldn't admit aloud he didn't want something new. Not anymore.

“Visiting hours are over soon,” Goku went on. Genji was already stalking to the door, but Goku gripped Hakkai's hand. “So, I promise I'll come and see you after work until you get out, but it'll only be a few more days. I brought you books, and I'll bring over gifts people leave for you!”

“And after you're discharged,” Genji added from the door, “You're on paid leave until you fully heal. Goku, let the man's doctor see him.”

Goku scrunched his nose and stuck his tongue out. “Sorry, senpai. Uhm, can I put your flowers somewhere?”

“Of ... course.” Hakkai glanced down at the bowl again, and passed it to Goku. “Er, why did you give me these?”

“Oh, well, Kouki-san said not to overwhelm you and only to bring a little at a time, so that's what I picked for the first visit!” He grinned, and though Hakkai could only wonder when Goku had gotten on a first-name basis with the sergeant, he channeled that into studying the pot again.

“Er. I must ask, why?”

“Oh, well, they were weird, so I figured they had to be important.” Goku set the bowl next to Hakkai's bed, then dusted his hands. “Feel better soon!” He jogged out after Genji, leaving Hakkai to contemplate the flowers.

Lilies for someone in hospital. Not at all traditional. Hakkai slumped back, wondering if he should be offended, or if he should simply find out who had left them. His last mystery, after all, was over. 

* * *

Hakkai was discharged after two days, but told he'd be on the mend for at least another three weeks. Genji said he could be on desk duty upon his return until fully healed, but to at least take another week at home. Hakkai had no interest in defying orders. Goku helped him gather up the gifts and well-wishes he'd been sent and that Goku had brought from the office and carried them home for him. The new scar tissue pulled whenever Hakkai lifted anything heavier than a newspaper, and though he'd been told it would improve with time, time for the muscles to knit, time for him to become accustomed to it, he wasn't certain it would ever truly heal. Even walking the stairs up to his apartment was a strain that left him huffing and wheezing when he reached the top landing. Goku hurried past him to open the door, helped him to his sofa, then put all the gifts he'd hauled up in sensible places. On any other day, Hakkai would have been humiliated, both at the state of his home (the futons were left unrolled on the floor, his dishes from breakfast four days ago sat untouched in the sink, an empty can of cat food sat on the balcony), and at having his junior nurse him like a baby bird. In his pain and weariness, he could say nothing and do nothing but watch Goku flit around, stuffing away bags of candy and stacking the cards on Hakkai's bookshelf, then setting the bowl of water lilies right in the center of the table and dusting his hands.

"It'll probably be hard, getting by on your own." Goku frowned down at Hakkai, who still panted, still held his hand fast over his stomach, who was pale and sweating as if he'd run a marathon and only just collapsed across the finish line. "Aw, man, it's tough seeing my senpai so low. How 'bout I ask Nee-san if she'll let me stay over and take care of you?"

"That won't be necessary, Goku-kun. I'm fine alone." Hakkai forced his hand away from the scar tissue, and it landed on the shrine in the corner. He grimaced as Kaname's photograph toppled over, but Goku set it right again.

"Okay, but someone's gonna have to do your grocery shopping. You can't carry stuff."

"Goku-kun–"

"Hakkai, please." He knelt down in front of him. "You don't have to say yes. Just call if you need help. Kouki-san will help, too. Please, just ask. I know you're mopey–"

Hakkai sat upright (as much as he could). "I do object. I'm not upset, I'm merely in pain."

"– 'Cause Gojyo is gone, and I could tell ya liked him, but … " Hakkai felt his chest clench at Gojyo's name. Goku bit his lip, then hung his head. "It's gonna be okay."

Hakkai couldn't think of what to say. Instead, he saw Goku out and settled himself back in again. He would have stuffed the futons away or at least taken them out and beaten them, but it all sounded so exhausting. That was the only word he could think of for his emotional state: exhausted. Exhausted from the injury, from pain medicine that made him woozy, from flubbing an investigation and stakeout and still having to politely smile and accept credit, from having so much of what he knew for certain feel insignificant against all of the unknown.

Make something of himself, Genji had said. He'd made himself smaller. Yet, he had been the one to seek a smaller life, hadn't he?

In spite of that, though, suddenly there were good-looking kappas disguised as drifters sitting on the side steps of a temple and psychopathic doctors who wanted more than they could grab, and that all went straight into the river.

Even more suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Hakkai silently dreaded the pain he knew would come with standing, but called, "Just a moment!" He eased himself up, but there was a muffled reply through the door.

"Take your time, I ain't goin' nowhere. I got all the time in the world, and ain't none of it worth much."

Hakkai ran to the door and threw it open, and yes, there was a handsome kappa disguised as a drifter standing on his doorstep. Gojyo was grinning, water still dripping from his hair and onto his filthy, silt-streaked clothes, and raised his hand to Hakkai. "Hey! It's been a few days, thought I'd check in. How're ya–"

Hakkai couldn't help it. He flung his arms around Gojyo and dragged him in. "Whoa, whoa, hey! Let me get my shoes off, at least, I wasn't born in a barn!" Gojyo tried to toe out of his shoes, but Hakkai embraced him as if worried he'd melt away into the river again.

"You're alive. Thank goodness, you're alive."

"I'm alive?" Gojyo laughed in disbelief. "I was more worried you'd rip Jien's healing when the kid and Sergeant Assface tried to move you." He held Hakkai's chin between his palms. "Did you get the flowers? I was a little worried you'd throw 'em out."

"The flowers?" Hakkai's heart rose into his chest, floating there like hope, and Gojyo nodded.

"Yeah, see, I didn't have time to scrounge up enough to buy a bouquet or anything, but–"

"Water lilies grow for free." Hakkai put a hand over his mouth. The clue had been so obvious, Hakkai could kick himself for missing it. "So, you–"

"Hey." Gojyo patted Hakkai's shoulders, as if to ground him. "Let's not stand here in the door. You probably shouldn't be up and about just yet."

Gojyo finally worked his shoes off – impeccable manners, like all the stories said kappas had – and eased Hakkai back onto his sofa, kneeling to the floor as both sank down. "Can I see it?" Gojyo tapped Hakkai's hip, just above the waistband of Hakkai's trousers, and Hakkai only hesitated a moment before lifting his shirt. Gojyo winced. "Damn. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I got reckless and careless. It's a curse; I get so blinded in these intense cases." Hakkai sighed and slumped into the chair, shoving his glasses up his nose and stuffing his shirt back into place. "It was always a flaw of mine. I would get caught up in facts on paper, the black and white, and forget that reality comes in a spectrum." He toyed with Gojyo's hair, as it dried in the afternoon sun streaming through his window. "And no human can see the entire spectrum."

"Pretty sure a man'd kill himself trying." Gojyo nodded, his eyebrows knit, and he adjusted where he knelt. "So, uh, when you saw me, you were looking at me like you thought you might never see me again."

"I didn't." Hakkai ran his hand over the scar on his belly and winced as it throbbed in response. "I was sure that, when you grabbed him and dove in, that he ... that you ... What happened? Ukiyo turned up drowned, but …"

"Yeah, he tried to get loose, but let me tell ya, it's really hard to stab someone underwater when you're already halfway out of air." Gojyo crossed his arms. "I don't like it, but it's what I had to do. Kappas drown naughty children who play in the river when they shouldn't, y'know."

Hakkai shivered and leaned forward a little to look closer at Gojyo. Even as Gojyo tutted at him and pushed him back, his eyes were the same, familiar dark they had been up until Gojyo had been drenched. "You really are …"

"Half-kappa." Gojyo sat back on his haunches. "Yup. You didn't dream it. Never quite human, and not kappa enough to be kappa. It's fine, though." He grinned at Hakkai, his teeth crooked but blunt. "They don't have TV and beer in the river, but the river's also rent-free. But here's the good news – the local kappas said it's cool if I claim Kappabuchi."

Hakkai raised his eyebrows. "As in, yours? A home to call yours?"

"Yup. Since I defended its honor and nobody else really wants it, it's all mine. So, hey, I figure I can guard the path up like I always did, snatch a couple cucumbers every once in a while and keep the legend alive, plus, since the shrine is for kappas, ain't nobody can get mad if I raid the offertory box every once in a while if I get hungry." Hakkai clicked his tongue to chide him, and Gojyo suddenly dropped his focus to the floor, the rumpled futons, and nervously twiddled his fingers. "So, I ain't homeless anymore, 'cept ... well ... Like I said, there's no TV in the river."

If Hakkai could raise his eyebrows higher, he would. "No, there isn't."

Gojyo didn't quite look up. "And ... no beer. And no pickled cucumbers, or hot meals, or comfy futons, or smart, cute, interesting cops to share it all with." He glanced up at Hakkai, as if all of his hopes were tied in his tongue with his next few words: "So, if maybe there were someone who'd wanna share that with me, y'know, preferably one of them cops I mentioned, I ... I think …"

"Smart, interesting, cute cops, is it?" Hakkai dared extend a hand to Gojyo and ran it through the length of his hair. "I suppose I could ask Goku if he's available, but I imagine Genji might object."

Gojyo quickly grinned. "C'mon. Hakkai. You know what I'm asking, here, and not for nothing. That's how we do." He patted his palm to his chest. "Kappas make deals, and we keep our goddamn word." He clasped Hakkai's hand in his. "Believe me, I'll treat you right, I'll take care of you, I'll do the grocery shopping, I'll help with the dishes. I'm a good boy. I'm even house trained." He tilted his head, his eyes gleaming with mischief that only barely disguised tender affection. "I know you're not allowed to have pets, but do you think you can handle one more stray?"

"I do." Hakkai sat forward, and Gojyo caught him under the arms and held him tight. "I think I have room in my life for someone a little extraordinary."

Gojyo turned the catch into a full embrace, accepting Hakkai against his chest. "Yeah, me too." With that, he tipped his head, caught Hakkai's mouth against his, and pierced his very soul with the kind of kiss a man could drown in.

That embrace sealed it. Under the mystery, all the stories, the rumors and whispers and fear, Hakkai had captured something magical, something legendary, something he really could believe in. Even if nobody else would ever believe him, it was his now, and just another part of his happy little life in the shadow of a legend.

* * *

**Moshi moshi:** According to folklore, greeting someone over the phone with ‘ _Moshi moshi_ ’ is to prove that whoever is on the other end is not a youkai. Apparently, ghosts can only say ‘ _Moshi_ ’ once.

**Nii-san:** An abbreviation of “onii-san,” or “big brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few more final notes!
> 
> As I mentioned in a comment, I had considered leaving the names the same, but I decided to at least adjust the family names to make them sound more Japanese. 
> 
> Sanzo's name was changed the most because it's a title. Genji Kouki is an indirect reference back to his origin, however: Kouki means "light and hope" or "happiness and brightness," appropriate for Goku's sun, and Genji is a reference to another famous piece of Japanese literature, The Tale of Genji, giving the stern sergeant an air of myth.
> 
> Goku's older sister was a riff on the youkai girl from the desert, which is why she didn't get a name.
> 
> I had considered doing a side scene with Goku and Genji, but since my requester didn't request them, I held off out of concern that said requester didn't like the pairing. I might write what went down between them in the van someday, which will explain why Goku was calling him by his given name.


End file.
